EVERY Brighton and Hove secondary school has been contacted by police after a string of underage drinking street parties, with the next one planned for tonight. 

Four arrests – three for public order offences and one for assaulting a police officer – have been made during the previous two weekends at Hove Lawns.

According to a Facebook group, more than 1,600 teenagers could gather there again tonight for the next “party on the beach”.

The group, hosted by a Brighton teenager who attends Portslade Aldridge Community Academy, makes several references to drinking and drugs as well as claiming that pepper spray had been used by police officers to control the crowds.

Two youths in the group admit to being arrested, with one bragging about spending 15 hours in a cell.

In the letter sent to the schools this week, PC Claire Kilroy said: “There appears to be a pattern developing in that young people across the city are gathering at Hove Lawns in the evenings and during the weekends.

“Many of the young people are intoxicated and this has led to serious incidents of disorderly behaviour amongst the large group.

“This has resulted in many young people then being arrested due to their disorderly behaviour and actions towards others, including police officers.

“Consequences of such actions have a huge impact on a young person’s future, in terms of criminal records and future aspirations.”

Oli Wilmot, manager of Lawns Cafe, said: “We’ve definitely seen a spike in disorderly behaviour and an increase in the number of kids down here.

"It’s similar to what we had here a couple of years ago where you’ve got a problem where the kids are too old to go to youth halls and that sort of stuff and too young to go to the pub – so they end up drinking down here.

“We’re very vulnerable because we’re not here when all of this is going on, so we’d certainly rather there weren’t big groups of teenagers down here drinking.”

Lawns Cafe owner Richard Bidwell said: “In previous years we’ve had groups of up to 200 partying on the lawns so it’s good the police are doing something positive and pro-active instead of just waiting for it to go up a notch.”

A spokeswoman from Dorothy Stringer School confirmed the police had been in touch and that the school was working in partnership with the force.