Lambeth has become the first London borough to ban laughing gas and other legal highs.

The council has used new powers to introduce a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) to ban the use and supply of legal highs in public areas. It is the first time a PSPO has been used to target laughing gas as a specific problem.

The council said it has first received complaints from residents regarding laughing gas last summer and has been monitoring incidents since then.

Cllr Jane Edbrooke, Lambeth’s cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: ‘Legal highs are simply not safe – we saw that just days ago with the death of a teenager who had inhaled laughing gas.

‘It is our duty to keep our residents safe and this new order should deter people from supplying and using legal highs in the borough.’

The new rules come in to force later this month and those breaching the order could face fines of up to £1,000.