Briefing Document – Dispersal Powers
New anti-social behaviour powers are criminalising people merely for being in a public space. From 20 October 2014, the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act gave police new ‘dispersal powers’ to bar individuals from public spaces if they think a person’s behaviour…
Birmingham to ban microphones in the city centre
If this PSPO goes though it will be a crime to protest with megaphones in Birmingham city centre. It will also be a crime to play violin, acoustic guitar or flute with amplification. That is, the city centre – including the law courts, police station, and council house – will be an area within which amplification of all kinds is prohibited. The council says it has been ‘inundated’ with complaints about noise: I would like to know how many complaints they have received. What’s more likely is that such measures represent the official view that any spontaneous expressions of life in public…
Criminalising youth sociability in public spaces
Bassetlaw District Council has just created the following PSPO: ‘The new order prohibits shouting, swearing or acting in a manner as to cause annoyance, harassment, alarm or distress to any person- and also means that 16 year olds will not be permitted to gather in the vicinity in groups of three or more.’ This will make it a crime for an under 16 year old to gather in a group in the defined public space. This amounts to criminalising teenage sociability. Hillingdon Council has passed an order targeted at young people, in one area restricting activities including: ‘using skateboards, pedal cycles, roller…
PSPO news: Bans on skateboarding, loitering, remote control cars, pigeon feeding
Councils have brought in a series of PSPOs since our March briefing. Some of these orders target activities that are already crimes – such as urinating and defecating in public – which is likely to be an issue of being able to punish with spot-fines rather than court. Others include specific activities – remote control cars, skateboarding – regardless of whether these are causing a problem. And then there are new vague pseudo-crimes – ‘loitering…so as to cause ASB’: what does that mean? – or causing harrassment, alarm and distress. It is trouble enough when such vague terms are brought before the…
Campaign Against Cultural Boycotts
There are growing calls for boycotts of artistic endeavors – including performance art installations, visual artist exhibitions, performing arts groups, erotic movies, exhibitions and art biennials. The boycott, as a public declaration of not attending an ‘offensive’ exhibition, festival or film, has…
Smoked Out: outdoor smoking bans report
The Manifesto Club report Smoked Out charts the rise of smoking bans in outdoor public spaces across the UK. First in children’s playgrounds, smoking bans have now spread to hospital sites, the gardens of closed mental health institutions, and are moving into squares,…
Briefing, 30 March 2015: 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…
New protections for leafleteers from heavy-handed laws
The Manifesto Club Campaign Against Leafleting Bans has achieved significant protections for small groups and events, in new statutory guidance published today by Defra. In our report, Leafleting – A liberty lost? we showed how large numbers of city centres were now…
Cambridge booze ban – barefaced duplicity
Cambridge City council has passed a PSPO banning the drinking of alcohol in public spaces. It’s remarkably unclear how the order will be applied, however. Council leaders and the police insist that it won’t be used against families having a nice picnic, and so on – that it will only be used in cases of anti-social behaviour. And yet, council leaders refused an amendment by the Lib Dems, which would have restricted alcohol confiscation to cases of anti-social behaviour. What is most likely is that the order will be applied against street drinkers, who may or may not be committing anti-social behaviour…
Oxford City Council to ban anything that makes people feel ‘uncomfortable’
This is the final week in a consultation by Oxford city council, proposing a ban on various ‘anti-social activities’ in the city centre (the council is using new ‘public spaces protection order’ powers, PSPOs, which allow them to ban any activity they judge to have a ‘detrimental effect’ on the ‘quality of life’). These banned activities include : sleeping in toilets, rough sleeping, public drinking, dogs off leads in the city centre, pigeon feeding, ‘non-compliant’ busking, and ‘persistent begging’. When the Manifesto Club debated the issue on BBC Radio Oxford on Sunday, Oxford councillor Dee Sinclair said that they were bringing in the…
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…
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…