In a post on the New Observer, Justin Wyllie points out that new anti-social behaviour powers are often being used against the mentally ill or other marginalised groups. He says: ‘Many of the targets of these new ‘Anti-Social Behaviour’ powers are people with mental health problems. The isolated and damaged individuals who interfere with the process of shopping in town centres up and down the country. There has been a blending of 3 previously separate domains; care for the mentally ill, handling anti-social behaviour (until recently dealt with informally by the authorities, if at all) and crime. Now all receive “support”. All…

One of the big questions about the implementation of the new wide-ranging ‘public space protection orders’ (PSPOs) was how councils will decide to pass them. PSPOs allow for the council to ban anything which it judges has a ‘detrimental effect’ on the ‘quality of life’ of an area. But there are no proceedural requirements about how officials might go about this – so one council might require a PSPO to pass through full council, which would provide a democratic check; while other authority might delegate the law-making power to a single council officer. This latter possibility is obviously extremely worrying, but extremely…

I was just on BBC Radio Lancashire with Blackpool Council Cabinet Member for Housing, Public Safety and Enforcement Gillian Campbell. She said that the council would use the new anti-social behaviour powers today, issuing community protection notices against some businesses. She also stated the council’s intention to use public spaces protection orders to ban street drinking in the town centre, and also to target the dress of stag and hen parties that visit the town. There will be a restriction on ‘public nudity’ or inappropriate dress in the daytime. This move to regulate public dress – and to make it a criminal…