Blog • Busking • PSPOs

Busker issued with ‘community protection notice’ banning him from busking

Thomas Mumby, a 28-year old musician in Retford, has been issued with a ‘community protection notice’ prohibiting him from busking in Retford town centre. A ‘community protection notice’ can be issued if a person’s behaviour is judged to have a ‘detrimental effect’ on the ‘quality of life’ of an area (the notice can be issued by council or police officers, and creates a criminal offence). Mr Munby is continuing to busk, however, as this is his livelihood. This means a real risk that he will be taken to court. See a video here of his encounter with the police ; there is…

PSPOs • Take action!

PSPO Consultations: Stand up against the regulation of public space

The new, dangerously open-ended ‘public spaces protection order’ powers allow councils to ban any activity which they judge to have a ‘detrimental effect’ on the ‘quality of life’ of an area. Many councils have passed or are planning to bring through these orders (see our list, here). Below are the currently open consultations for public spaces protection orders. Please take the time to respond, especially if you live in or visit the area concerned. If councils receive enough critical responses, this will make it much harder for them to bring the measure through. OXFORD CITY COUNCIL is proposing new laws restricting: sleeping…

Briefings • PSPOs

How have councils used PSPO powers?

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act went live on 20 October. This included ‘public spaces protection orders’, which allow councils to ban any activity which they judge to have a ‘detrimental effect’ on the ‘quality of life’ of an area. A Manifesto Club report found that powers would be used to ban rough sleeping, ball games and ‘inappropriate dress’. Here is a three-month review of how councils are using these powers… Kettering Borough Council is consulting on a public spaces protection order in the town centre, which would regulate the following activities: street drinking, skateboarding, charity collectors, anti-social driving and parking,…

Blog • Booze bans • PSPOs

Boston Council oversteps ASB powers

Boston Council has announced a ban on street drinking, with signs announcing that ‘drinking alcohol or carrying it in any open container in this area is PROHIBITED’. Yet these announcements misrepresent the powers provided in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. The powers to make ‘public spaces protection orders’ is extremely broad, but one of the few restrictions is a restriction on a complete ban on alcohol. The Statutory Guidance accompanying the Act states clearly: ‘It is not an offence to drink alcohol in a controlled drinking zone. However, it is an offence to fail to comply with a request to…

Blog • Booze bans • PSPOs

Lincoln Council bans ‘intoxicating substances’ in city centre

Lincoln city councillors have voted in favour of a ban on ‘intoxicating substances’. The policy will go before the council’s executive committee for final ratification on 19 January. The law is made under new powers contained in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, specifically the ‘public spaces protection order’ (PSPO) power, which allows local authorities to ban anything which has a ‘detrimental effect’ on the ‘quality of life’ of the locality. The law is intended to prohibit the consumption of so-called ‘legal highs’, but is drafted so broadly as to include all substances which affect the central nervous system, which could…

Monitoring kids • Reports

Briefing Document – Monitoring Playgrounds

A briefing document by the Manifesto Club shows that schools’ monitoring of ‘racist incidents’ has continued and expanded, with a new trend of recording kids’ ‘prejudice’ based on gender, sexuality, ‘home circumstances’ and special needs. The briefing document argues that these recording systems intervene in everyday playground interaction, as well as undermining teachers’ authority and ability to deal with incidents in a proportionate manner. DOWNLOAD THE BRIEFING DOCUMENT Media coverage: ‘Fat bucket’ isn’t the worst thing you can call a child. ‘Bigot’ is, Sarah Oliver, Daily Mail, 4 January Is your five-year-old a bigot and a racist?, 4 January, Guardian School pupils…

Blog • Vetting

Oz catches ‘Santa’s lap’ panic

An Australian child protection adviser has called for shopping centres to ‘update child protection policies’ so that children ‘stand beside Santa’ rather that sit on his knee. This sparked a national debate about the rights and wrongs of sitting on Santa’s knee (Is it wrong if the child asks to do it? Where should Santa put his hands? Which part of the knee?) What is striking is the similarities between British and Australian child protection cultures, with a shared concern about the dangers of interaction between children and this strange disguised man in dark spaces. This level of concern simply doesn’t exist…

Blog • PSPOs

New ASB powers of eviction: Our homes are no longer our own

A 22-year old has been evicted from her home in Plymouth, as police used the broad new powers of eviction contained within the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. The Plymouth Herald reports enthusiastically that new ASB powers mean that somebody can be evicted from their home and asked to leave ‘within the hour’, if police ‘tell the court they reasonably believe that there is, or is likely soon to be, a public nuisance or there is disorder in the vicinity of the premises’. The old conditions for eviction were significantly stonger: the ‘police would have to prove that the property was…

Blog • On-the-spot fines

Another council calls in the litter police

Another council – Gravesham Borough Council, in Kent – will contract a private company for the issuing of litter fines. The Manifesto Club argues that the issuing of fines by private companies on commission can gravely distort the operations of justice and law enforcement (see our report The Corruption of Punishment). There are several salient points in Gravesham Borough Council’s report about the contract: – There have only been 9 litter fines issued by council and police officers in 2014. This is likely to go up to two or three thousand once the company is contracted. – These private officers being employed…

Blog • PSPOs

ASB powers used against motorist meet-ups

Colchester Council is planning a ‘public spaces protection order’ banning car enthusiasts from gathering in a retail park after 6pm. This comes after gatherings of hundreds of cars, organised by the East Essex Cruisers. Yet significantly, when police visited previous gatherings, they found that people were ‘not doing anything much’; they were looking at each other’s cars, some revving their engines or playing music on the car radio. The only offence was the sale of burgers from vans without a licence. Yet under the new law it will become a crime to enter Turner Rise retail park after 6pm, except for the…

Blog • PSPOs

From public services to CRASBOs

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…