Nottingham City Council is currently consulting on a new PSPO, which we are opposing and have submitted a response. The plans as currently worded would fine people for everyday, harmless things – playing music in the street, asking passers-by for money, or selling the Big Issue in the ‘wrong’ spot – even when no one is actually being harmed. It treats poverty and ordinary street life as anti-social behaviour, punishing buskers, the homeless and street collectors for who they are rather than for anything genuinely harmful they’ve done. And the test for breaking the rules is so vague – anything causing ‘disturbance’ or annoyance – that it comes down to one officer’s opinion on the day.