A town centre enforcement zone aimed at cracking down on alcohol-fuelled rowdyism at Fakenham has been backed by influential councillors.Under the order police would get extra powers to arrest anyone who refuses to stop drinking or hand over alcohol.

A town centre enforcement zone aimed at cracking down on alcohol-fuelled rowdyism at Fakenham has been backed by influential councillors.

Under the order, police would receive extra powers to arrest anyone who refused to stop drinking or hand over alcohol.

It cannot come into force until a public consultation and approval by North Norfolk District Council.

But on Monday, the council's cabinet agreed to press on with investigating the Designated Public Place Order idea.

Community safety manager Teri Munro stressed it was not an alcohol ban but was a prevention tool that gave police more powers to tackle people when they were being rowdy and before they became drunk and disorderly. "It will clear offenders from the streets before it becomes a significant problem," she added.

It had already been successful at Sheringham and North Walsham and made people feel safer in the streets.

Councillors heard there had been 51 alcohol-related offences reported in Fakenham between September 2007 and September 2008.

The proposed order would cover streets and public places in an area bounded by Highfield Road, Jubilee Avenue, Whitehorse Street and part of Holt Road, including Market Place and Bridge Street.

Councillors backed the move but called for assurances on enforcement and whether it would just displace problems to elsewhere.

Graham Jones also suggested that super-markets should be included in the consultation, claiming their irresponsible selling of cheap lager was leading to excessive drinking.

And Clive Stockton sounded a note of caution about over-use of monitoring leading to erosion of civil liberties, adding: "Some people feel threatened by morris dancers, because they have weapons and shout a lot..."