RESIDENTS are putting their money where their mouths are and have set aside £10,000 to fund an injunction against anti-social drunks.

Local people and community leaders at the Leytonstone Community Council meeting on Monday agreed to put aside the cash their entire budget for the current financial year to pay the legal costs of the injunction against drunken, anti-social behaviour.

They also voted to support any proposals to make Leytonstone High Road a 'drink-free zone'.

Cllr Terry Wheeler, chairman of the community council, said he was delighted with the outcome of the meeting.

He said: "I think it will make a big difference. We have been working in partnership with local police, the council and health services representatives and had a very successful meeting last week with all the organisations.

"People are fed up being harassed by this group of people, most of whom are not homeless. It is their choice not to drink in their homes.

"Local residents are entitled to peace and quiet when they walk along the High Road, but the drinkers are intimidating when they shout, and they are known to beg aggressively."

A drink-free zone would mean that, under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, the borough council would have the power to restrict anti-social drinking in designated places, and the police would more easily be able to confiscate alcohol and move drunks along.

The injunction would set out what the people specifically named in it are not allowed to do, for example, drink in or around the High Road, and if they persistently fail to abide by it, they could be jailed for being in contempt of court.

Cllr Wheeler said: "The injunction would back up the drink-free zone with the threat of prosecution and would reinforce the fact that they have to stop their anti-social behaviour."

The proposal for a drink-free zone between the Thatched House and the Green Man roundabout was first made at a community council meeting in December after residents vented their anger and said they wanted to reclaim the streets from drunks and make the area safer.

They said the High Road, as well as nearby public spaces, benches and public toilets, were becoming no-go areas for people because of threatening behaviour of drunks.

Cllr Wheeler said: "What we are going to do now is, on the back of the drink-free zone, persuade different health organisations and social service chiefs to put some money forward to fund help for these anti-social people. Alcoholism is a disease, and we would be looking for them to pay for an outreach worker."

A council spokesman said council officers would research the drink-free zone scheme in more detail and submit the report to the next meeting of the community council in March.