POLICE say they will not adopt a zero-tolerance approach to enforcing Oxford's new city-wide alcohol ban.

On Monday night, city councillors voted to extend existing alcohol-free zones to cover the entire city after scores of complaints from residents about late-night street drinkers causing a nuisance.

The blanket coverage will come in to force later this year after a period of statutory consultation.

Police insist it will not mean responsible on-street drinking is banned, but they claim it will make it easier for them to deal with those causing 'alarm, harassment or distress' when drinking openly.

Under the extended ban, those deemed to be causing a nuisance while drinking anywhere in the city could be asked by police to surrender their drink or be arrested and fined if they fail to comply.

Before Monday night only a handful of areas including Oxford city centre, Wellington Square and Little Clarendon Street in Jericho, Blackbird Leys shops and Windrush Tower and Manzil Way and Cowley Road in East Oxford were covered by the drinking restrictions.

Chief Insp Steph Cook, of Oxford police, said: "We don't want this to be a draconian zero-tolerance approach across the city.

"It is the antisocial drinking we are keen to address, regardless of where it occurs.

"Nine out of ten people will surrender their alcohol quite amenably, but the expansion makes for a more consistent approach." Police were finding persistent street drinkers were sometimes intimidating residents by continuing to drink in areas not designated as alcohol-free zones.

Labour city councillor Susan Brown, executive member for crime and community safety, said: "The police cannot tackle those who move outside alcohol-free zones this is giving them the power to tackle these people in a simple way.

"This is what residents want and it's what the police want."

But not everyone is convinced.

The Liberal Democrat group leader on the city council, John Goddard, said the approach was "typical of one-size-fits-all phobia".

Mr Goddard added: "Alcohol-related disorder can be perfectly controlled in other ways."

Lesley Dewhurst, director of Oxford Nightshelter, the homeless charity, said: "The proof of the pudding will be in the way the police enforce this.

"If they are heavy-handed I will be very angry, but if they use it to manage examples of bad behaviour, then I would not criticise it."