Police trying to curb drug dealing and under-age drinking in public at night in London’s East End are calling for a Public Spaces Protection Order at a hotspot in Limehouse.

Public consultations are under way by Tower Hamlets Council following complaints from families living around in Ropemakers Fields Park and Dundee Wharf.

The order would give the local authority and Met Police more powers to deal with harassment, drinking and urinating in public, noise nuisance, littering and motor-vehicles driven in the park and on the Thames Pathway.

“This activity is a blight on families,” Tower Hamlets cabinet member Asma Begum said. “We need residents to say whether an order would help improve the area.”

A public consultation is under way to test if an order should be introduced around the Ropemakers Fields and Dundee Wharf.

The order under the 2014 Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act would apply from Ropemakers Fields Park to the Thames Pathway.

Signs would be installed if approved, warning about anti-social activity and how it would be enforced. The consultations run till October 6.

Other temporary zones have been used in the past by police and Tower Hamlets Council to tackle street gangs and drug dealing.

The latest was a pilot tackling underage drinking in Mile End, following complaints. It has led to a two-thirds drop in drunkenness, the council claimed today.

Mile End resident Tania Nalywajko said: “I was at my wits end with gangs of 50 youths drinking and shouting outside my house every night. It was really frightening.

“It’s been a real battle, but young people don’t hang about on the streets so much and people are now using the park.”

A community ‘partnership’ created training and job opportunities for youngsters, working with schools and youth centres to raise awareness about substance misuse issues. Members of Tower Hamlets Youth Council carried out test purchases of booze so trading standards could enforce against shops selling alcohol to anyone underage.

A similar public protection order could be sanctioned in Limehouse, where families say they’ve had enough of being terrorised by yobs.