Public space

Public space

Guidance for Councils: How to keep your public squares open

This guidance is based on the Manifesto Club report, Gatekeepers: How Councils are Controlling Access to the Public Square, which found that restrictions on political stalls are now the norm across England and Wales. This guidance is to help councils work towards a more liberal approach to local campaigning, which encourages local engagement and democracy as well as respects free speech. The importance of the public square Public squares, pavements and pedestrianised areas have traditionally been venues where citizens, campaigners, political parties, community groups and others can engage with the public, hand out leaflets, show banners, run street stalls and talk with…

Public space • Take action!

Campaign: Free speech under threat in town squares

A decade ago, anyone could set up a table in the town square and engage passers-by. Now, councils are replacing open public space with ‘event zones’ that must be booked and approved. Our new report found that out of 321 councils surveyed in England & Wales: Only 19 councils (8%) allowed genuinely informal campaigning without fees or prior vetting — the vast majority impose red-tape, fees, licensing or outright bans. How control works 1. ‘Licensed’ event spaces replace the public square Councils now designate specific locations as ‘events’ or ‘promotions’ zones, which people have to apply to use. Everywhere else is off-limits.…

PSPOs • Public space

Birmingham’s draconian plan to ban busking in the city centre

Birmingham Council is planning a Public Spaces Protection Order that will prohibit people from ‘using amplification equipment, musical instruments or other items used as musical instruments’ in the city centre. This will include ‘Noise associated with busking; street entertaining, street preaching and public speaking’. Here is a guest blog post by David Fisher, busker and director of Keep Streets Live. When Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) were introduced in 2014, they came with assurances that they should not be used against buskers who were not causing anti-social behaviour. At the time, buskers were sceptical about whether this advice would be always followed.…

PSPOs • Public space

Sheffield Council’s PSPO will be a hard blow for the homeless

Sheffield Council recently introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order that will have a major effect on the lives of homeless people in the city, including bans on begging and loitering. Here is a guest post by Sheffield law lecturer Dr Ben Archer, urging the council to rethink. In April 2025, Sheffield City Council introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) aimed at addressing anti-social behaviour (ASB) in the city centre. The PSPO contains prohibitions on ‘Drinking alcohol in an anti-social manner’, ‘Begging’, ‘Loitering’, ‘Drug use’, ‘Public urination/defecation’, and imposes requirements to ‘Provide your details’ and ‘Leave the restricted area’. Punishment for breach…

Dispersal powers • Public space

Doncaster council’s draconian dispersal form

This is the form that Doncaster Council ‘city centre engagement officers’ use to bar people from the city centre. It shows that the pettiest council officers are being given absolute powers to order people around. The officer can ban someone if the officer thinks that the person ‘is likely to cause annoyance’ to any other person. The form allows the officer to specify when the person must leave the area (immediately/in 15 mins/30 mins/1 hour) The officer must state the ‘anti-social behaviour giving rise to the dispersal’ (this is the only slight requirement of evidence, but given the broad nature of the…

Briefings • Dispersal powers • PSPOs • Public space

Doncaster officers issue more dispersals than most police authorities

A small group of Doncaster Council officers are issuing more dispersal notices than most police authorities. In 2023, the council’s ‘City Centre Engagement Officers‘ issued 504 orders to people to leave Doncaster city centre for 24 hours. The officers counted 90 breaches, and issued 12 fixed penalty notices for breach. Data from police authorities in the year up to July 2023 found that only four authorities – Hampshire (990 dispersals), Northumbria (833), Norfolk (753), and the Metropolitan Police (522) – issued more dispersal notices than these council officers. The 14 other police authorities able to provide the information issued fewer dispersals than…

PSPOs • Public space

UK councils, stop hassling dog walkers

With Britain under lockdown, dog walkers’ daily walk with their animals is literally one of their last remaining freedoms. Yet the Manifesto Club has been receiving an increased number of complaints about arbitrary and pointless crackdowns on dog walkers. New restrictions on dog walkers have been introduced under lockdown, dog walkers have found themselves in the dock, and dog wardens have been out in force. North Somerset has decided that now is the best time to criminalise dogs off leads in the whole of the borough. This would mean that there will only be a few designated areas where dog walkers can…

Briefings • Free speech • Public space

Do we want to still have a right to protest in 2022? The Police Bill must be stopped at all costs

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill must be stopped at all costs. This Bill would in effect remove the right to protest; it would give police officers the power to ban or place restrictions of their choice upon public demonstrations. This Bill would mean that someone could be locked up for 10 years if they put others ‘at risk of’ disease, or at risk of ‘serious inconvenience’ or ‘serious annoyance’. This Bill comes after freedom of association has effectively been suspended for months, with organisers slapped with £10,000 fines and demonstrations violently broken up by police. This Bill would mean that…