Police have refused to say how many fines they’ve issued for street drinking after a borough-wide ban came in last month.

A public drinking ban across the whole of Slough came into force on July 5. The ban means it is now an offence to be in possession of an open container of alcohol or to refuse to hand over drinks to police or town centre wardens when asked.

Slough Borough Council – which imposed the ban – says the move is aimed at cracking down on anti-social behaviour. Ishrat Shah, the councillor in charge of public protection, said in July: “The aim is to tackle ongoing issues of anti-social behaviour affecting the local community.”

The ban – in the form of a public space protection order – is enforceable by police officers or town centre wardens employed by Slough business improvement district (BID). But a month later only police are currently able to issue fines.

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A spokesperson for Slough BID said its wardens were due to get community safety training that authorises them to issue fines within eight to twelve weeks. They added that police had been ‘very active’ in issuing fines since the ban came in.

But a Thames Valley Police spokesperson said they couldn’t answer questions about how many fines had been issued, where they’d been issued, or how much they were for.

Instead they said the Observer would need to request the information under freedom of information laws, which can take up to 20 working days to return a response.