The Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 includes a swathe of unprecedentedly open-ended powers, which significantly undermine rights in public spaces.
The Manifesto Club is focusing on ‘Public Spaces Protection Orders’ (PSPOs), which give local authorities the power to ban any activity they judge to have a ‘detrimental effect’ on the ‘quality of life’ of a locality.
See our briefing document – Buskers and homeless under threat from new ASB powers
The Community Protection Notice power has been dubbed the ‘new Asbo’, and is used to target everyday acts of perceived anti-social behaviour. This report analyses local authorities’ use of Community Protection Notices, in the period between November 2016 and October 2018. We…
Birmingham City Council is considering a PSPO to restrict parents protesting outside primary schools, in disagreement with the schools’ teaching on sexuality. Here is the Manifesto Club statement on the issue: PSPOs should not be used to restrict peaceful protest in public places. There are already powers to prosecute acts of intimidation, violence or harassment, but the peaceful expression of opinions should not be criminalised. Indeed, a PSPO exclusion zone could well be illegal: the primary legislation on PSPOs requires councils to ‘have particular regard to the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly’, to ensure that these rights are…
Kensington and Chelsea Council is planning a wide-ranging crack-down on street entertainment, which will severely limit, and in some areas prevent, busking in the borough. The council has drawn up a ‘voluntary code’, which includes measures such as: limiting performances to 45 minutes; banning busking before 10am or after 7pm; limitation of performers to 6, or in some areas 2 or 3; requiring buskers to have public liability insurance; requiring buskers to limit sound levels. These measures would prevent choirs or larger groups, prevent busking at peak times, and restrict busking slots to an unreasonably short period. Still worse, the council is…
The Manifesto Club has been campaigning against Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) since the introduction of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act in 2014. We obtained changes to the Statutory Guidance at the end of 2017, which imposed a number of…
Richmond council is planning a PSPO targeting anti-abortion protests outside an abortion clinic on Rosslyn Road. Here is the Manifesto Club response to this proposal. Dear Richmond Council, The Manifesto Club would like to register its opposition to your proposed text for a PSPO, on the grounds that the text is too broad, and fails to target harmful or nuisance detrimental behaviour. We specifically object to the prohibition on Protesting, namely engaging in any act of approval or disapproval or attempted act of approval or disapproval, with respect to issues related to abortion services, by any means, including, without limitation, graphic, verbal…
So far as we know, Nottingham City Council last night rubber stamped a PSPO regulating busking, begging, leafleting, and other activities in the city centre. After fierce opposition and criticism (including from the Manifesto Club, Keep Streets Live and the Musicians’ Union), the council reduced some of the conditions. These changes include – – A removal of the requirement to gain consent before handing out religious, charitable or political leaflets; – A removal of the requirement to busk in designated busking sites. Instead, busking is banned in two small areas, including next to the town hall. Yet significant problems remain with the…
Nottingham City council is planning a wide-ranging PSPO, cracking down on busking, leafleting, begging and charity collection. The council employs over 100 community protection officers, who are notoriously heavy-handed and will make these prohibitions count. You can view the PSPO here, and send your submissions to the council by 3 October. The Manifesto Club response is below. We will be working with the organisation Keep Streets Live, and with local residents, to oppose this PSPO. Dear Nottingham City Council, Here is a response from the Manifesto Club, regarding your proposed draft PSPO. Restriction on busking: We do not think that it…
The new Home Office Statutory Guidance included a restriction on councils using PSPOs to target the homeless. Some councils have heeded this, and withdrawn or modified PSPOs that affect homeless people. But others seem to have taken another approach: they introduce a PSPO banning begging or rough sleeping, but insist that they are only doing it to help and support homeless people. Doncaster Council has brought though a PSPO that bans sleeping overnight in the town centre, begging, lying or sitting in or adjacent to doorways. This amounts to an outright ban on homelessness, yet the council insists that it is doing…
In theory, a PSPO is a power used by councils, on the basis that they are democratically elected institutions. Before passing the PSPO, the council must consult the local police force, in order to check that they are able to enforce it. The reality, however, is that police forces are becoming actively involved in the writing of these laws. In Cheshire West and Chester, a PSPO (which included a ban on rough sleeping, begging, and busking outside of designated pitches) was proposed in a report by a local chief inspector. Police influence is the reason for the frequent appearance of a dispersal…
‘Aggressive begging’ has been the target of a series of PSPOs (either the PSPO bans aggressive begging, or aggressive begging is used as the justification for a ban on begging as a whole). But what exactly is ‘aggressive begging’? The Oxford Council PSPO defines aggressive begging as including ‘begging near a cash machine’. Exeter Council includes in its definition behaviour that is ‘intimidating by being passive aggressive, such as standing or sitting in close proximity (ie within 5 meters to a cash machine’. Newport Council’s PSPO extends the range even further, defining aggressive begging as begging within 10 metres of a cashpoint.…
Two current consultations – in Hartlepool and Blackpool – propose interfering and controlling PSPOs that are directed at dog owners. Both draft PSPOs extend the areas within which dog owners cannot walk their dogs, or must walk their dogs on a lead. In addition, both include a requirement for dog owners to produce a ‘means to pick up’ dog mess on request. If they refuse to do so, they will be fined. Both PSPOs also include a power for council owners to scan dog microchips – to obtain certain identity for the owner, and also to issue a fine if the dog…
(Guest post by ‘Blackpool Orders for Dog Control Action Group’) Residents of Blackpool are joining the facebook group ‘Blackpool Orders for Dog Control Action Group’ in opposition to the council’s draconian proposals to exclude dogs from parks, bridle-paths and other open spaces to…