THEY leave a trail of crushed cans and broken bottles outside homes and business and splatter pavements and alleyways with urine and vomit.

Now a councillor is calling for police and city council chiefs to clamp down on drunks plaguing streets in his Freemantle ward by capping the number of off-licences in the area.

Tory Jeremy Moulton wants Southampton City Council and the police to create a “cumulative impact zone” in Shirley Road and Shirley High Street to make it harder for new shops to apply for alcohol licences and for existing convenience stores and newsagents to increase their licensing hours.

He will make the plea at the Safe City Partnership meeting on Thursday, April 25 and said: “I want the police and licensing team to work together on this and address the scale of the problem.

“The pubs are well managed in the area but there are so many off licences there and we don’t need any more.

“It’s intimidating when you walk down the road and see people drinking beer in the streets from early in the morning until late at night and urinating in the alleyways and it brings the area down.”

His proposed scheme would mean people applying for alcohol licences would have to prove they will not have an adverse impact on the area and increase antisocial behaviour and crime.

It would be similar to a zone already set up in Bedford Place, London Road and Above Bar and Bevois Valley to restrict the number of new pubs and bars opening and reduce the amount of violence and criminal damage linked to drink.

Mary Thornton Smith, who owns New Age shop Magik Earth in Shirley Road, welcomed the plans.

She said: “It would be a good idea as people drink too much round here.

“I’ve had pools of sick in my doorway and someone once threw up on my car.

“It’s bad for business and somone’s got to pick up the cans and bottles.”

But many traders and residents feel the plans – which require the police to investigate the extent of the problem before they are introduced – are too little too late.

Christopher Carter, from Clarence Hardware, who regularly sees drunks walking around with beer cans, said: “There’s so many people selling alcohol already that it’s gone too far.

“It’s pointless and if they want to spend their money on drink they are going to get it somewhere.”

Council Cabinet member for communities Cllr Jacqui Rayment said: “We are aware that this matter has been raised and we are in the process of discussing it with licensing and police colleagues.

“It may be on the agenda at this month’s Safe City Partnership meeting.”

No one from the police was available to comment.