Godalming and Farncombe's Public Spaces Protection Order could be extended to villages outside the town if the measure displaces anti-social behaviour into other areas.

Describing the proposed order as "the last throw of the dice" for police and Waverley in seeking to get a grip on the problem, chairman Kevin Deanus told last night's meeting of the Community Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee that the boundary could be extended to include other areas if the need arose.

His remarks came in the wake of comments by Milford councillor Maxine Gale, who voiced concerns that youngsters who had been dispersed from Farncombe and Godalming would just get on a train and head for Milford or Witley instead.

"Whilst I wholly agree the police have run out of tactics to deal with the terrible behaviour which has been occurring in Farncombe and Godalming, and the PSPO order is really the next step for them, our worry in Milford and Witley is that this will displace the problem to nearby villages," she said.

Pointing out that the Godalming Town Council boundary ends at Squires Garden Centre in Milford, she said youths had been gathering at Farncombe and Godalming stations and travelling on trains as far as Haslemere. As Witley and Milford stations are often not manned, the youths would be able to travel to the villages and visit off-licences and open spaces, where they could cause trouble, she added.

"I therefore request that the area covered by the PSPO should be widened to take in the villages of Milford and Witley as these are the most vulnerable and the most likely places this trouble would be displaced to," she said.

But Cllr Deanus said any move to extend the order would need to be backed up by evidence.

"You're absolutely right," he told Cllr Gale. "You've got to look at displacement, and some crimes will be displaced, some won't, but it's got to be evidential."

"If it starts escalating we are nimble on our feet with this one."

Godalming Town Council Leader Paul Follows added: "What we want to be clear on here is that this is part of a long-term strategy with lots of different angles. Part of it is about youth engagement and provision for other activities for youths in the area. I would also just highlight it's not always youths who are out drinking, it's people who are out drinking."

And he said the extra powers were "an additional tool in the box for the police, which is about as far as the borough council can intervene in policing matters."

Waverley's Head of Environmental Services, Richard Homewood, told the committee the authority had been approached by the police with the suggestion of a PSPO, with the force putting forward "a significant amount of evidence" for the order.

There were several tests which have to be gone through to justify the move, he said, including the risks of displacement, and officers had reviewed incidents of antisocial behaviour across Milford and Witley as well as in the town council area.

"There was not the extent of antisocial behaviour reported in Milford and Witley as there was in Farncombe and Godalming over the period of March 2019 to March 2020, so it is a very different environment that they're working in in Farncombe and Godalming," he said.

He pointed out that Surrey Police were working in tandem with British Transport Police to patrol trains along the line.

"The police view is that there is no evidence to suggest that displacement will happen, and they have a range of other powers which they can use to address antisocial behaviour in areas outside of the Godalmng Town Council area should it occur in the future."

He said of the police: "They're conscious that the summer is coming, the end of lockdown is coming, and they want to be ready with the complete toolbox in time for that to happen."

Farnham councillor Sally Dickson said she was concerned the order would be used as a blanket ban on drinking alcohol in public green spaces.

"I feel it's a rock to crack a very small nut," she said, adding that she felt the rules could be "criminalising normal behaviour".

"I'm looking forward to having a glass of Pimm's in the park," she said. "Are you telling me it's going to be illegal?"

But Mr Homewood assured her the powers would be discretionary. "It's not an absolute ban on drinking. It's not an absolute ban on anything," he said.

"It's quite fine for families to have a picnic in the park or young people to sit and have a beer in the park as long as they are not causing any antisocial behaviour or causing distress for other people.

"It will only be used to intervene if there is antisocial behaviour associated with that consumption of alcohol."

Farncombe and Catteshall councillor George Wilson welcomed the proposal, adding: "I fully support this, and I welcome it, because it is my ward that has had most of the incidents. I think once this goes into place people are going to feel a great sense of relief."

Waverley is running a public consultation on the proposal, which can be accessed here.