PSPOs

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

On-the-spot fines • PSPOs

Over 25,000 ‘busybody’ penalties issued in 2025

This week, the Crime and Policing Bill is passing through the ping pong stage in the Commons and Lords. This bill will increase the penalties for Public Spaces Protection Orders – which ban activities such as standing in groups, feeding birds, or loitering – from £100 to £500. Most of these penalties are currently issued by private companies on commission – the company is paid a portion (normally 80-90%) of penalty income, and therefore has a direct incentive to issue as many penalties as possible. The Liberal Democrat peer Tim Clement Jones introduced an amendment to prevent private companies from directly profiting…

Free speech • PSPOs

Campaigners defy council ban on campaigning

We are working with political campaigners in Leicester, who are opposing the council’s ban on political campaigning (a new law prohibits displaying banners or flags, amplification, and setting up political stalls). Here is news from campaigners about their recent protest, when they set up campaign tables in defiance of the ban. We have written to the council, asking them to remove this restrictive and undemocratic law. Six different campaigning groups defied Leicester City Council’s ban on campaign tables and set up close to each other in the city centre on 7 February. While the event was happening City Wardens made no attempt…

On-the-spot fines • PSPOs

Victory on ‘busybody’ fines in House of Lords

On 25 February, peers passed an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill to ban fining for profit for ‘busybody’ offences. The amendment states that companies ‘must not receive, directly or indirectly, any financial benefit that is contingent upon the (a) issuing of a fixed penalty notice, or (b) the number or value of fixed penalty notices issued’. This would mean that ‘payment per fine’ contracts – under which over 14,000 penalties are issued each year – would be declared invalid. Council ‘busybody’ powers (Public Spaces Protection Orders, and Community Protection Notices) have led to new bans on activities such as feeding…

Blog • On-the-spot fines • PSPOs

Lords debate ‘fining for profit’ for ‘busybody’ offenses

The Crime and Policing Bill will increase penalties for ‘busybody’ offences from £100 to £500 (clause 4). On-the-spot penalties for Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) and Community Protection Notices (CPNs) are currently issued at a rate of over 20,000 a year (in 2023 there were 19,000 FPNs for PSPOs, and 1,200 for CPNs). This price hike will therefore affect substantial numbers of people. These orders are issued on a low benchmark and have been subject to widespread misuse, including bans on gathering in groups or sleeping in public, and individuals banned from looking at their neighbours or ordered to cut their grass.…

PSPOs

‘Excessive honking’ and other new car-crimes

Tandridge District Council is considering a ban on ‘excessive horn honking’, which means drivers could be fined £100 pounds (soon to be £500) if they are judged to be honking their horn too much. According to new research, 39 other councils have seen fit to bring through a similar ban on honking, under new laws designed to stop ‘car cruising’. Vicky Heap from Sheffield Hallam University, and Clare Farmer from Deakin University in Australia, analysed the 69 active Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) that include ‘car cruising’ prohibitions. Although the justification for car cruising orders is to tackle car events including racing…

Free speech • PSPOs

Leicester Council denies political party right to campaign in city centre

Leicester City Council has a draconian Public Spaces Protection Order, which bans political groups from putting up banners or holding campaigning stalls in the city centre. So far, dozens of religious groups have been given warnings, and at least one political campaigner was fined when she refused to take down her ‘unauthorised’ campaigning table. (She has refused to pay the fine and is challenging the council to prosecute her). In theory, people can apply for permission from the council to hold a political stall, use amplification, or display a flag or banner. Leicester activist Michael Barker recently applied to hold a stall…

Briefings • PSPOs

Lords debate hike in ‘busybody’ fines

Clause 4 of the Crime and Policing Bill includes a substantial increase in penalties for breach of Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPO) and Community Protection Notices (CPNs), from £100 to £500. The main result of this change will be more people getting massive fines for dubious non-offences such as having a messy garden, begging, standing in groups and ‘idling’. These penalties will be largely issued by dodgy private enforcement companies who are paid per fine. The Bill is now in the Lords, and two peers – Lord Tim Clement Jones and Baroness Claire Fox – have introduced Committee Stage amendments to remove…

PSPOs

Peak District ban on stoves threatens youth outdoor activities

Two Peak District councils have introduced a blanket ban on the use of any ‘naked flame’. We received an email from a local walker, who is concerned that these orders will affect youth outdoor activities such as Duke of Edinburgh (who tend to carry small gas stoves), as well as warm-up stops for youth groups and conservation volunteers, and outdoor training in fire and stove use for children and adults. This is a matter of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. It is perfectly possible to use camping stoves safely, and this PSPO could have some very perverse unintended consequences. It…