CPN case studies

Woman banned from taking in injured birds

A lady in Merseyside has been banned from taking in injured birds, which has been her habit for years. The case shows how council officers issuing CPNs assume a large degree of control over recipients’ lives, with constant demands to inspect their property and issuing minute instructions about how they live (including whether their windows are left open or closed). This goes way beyond any reasonable remit of dealing with serious nuisance or anti-social behaviour; ‘asb’ is defined according to the predelictions and personal gripes of the officer concerned. This case also shows how council officers often stir up bad feeling against…

CPNs • Policy response • PSPOs

Manifesto Club statement on Respect Orders

As we outlined in our recent briefing, Respect Orders are largely a replica of an existing power: the ASB Injunction (ASBI). Our research on ASBIs (written by University of York academics) shows that these powers have been subject to widespread overuse, including cases of people being imprisoned for feeding the birds, going into a prohibited area, sleeping rough, or in one case merely for asking for 50p. The majority of defendants were not represented in the breach hearing that led to their prison sentence. It is our view that Respect Orders will reproduce – and increase – the existing problems seen with…

CPNs • Dispersal powers • Policy response • PSPOs

ASB Powers Guidance: The civil liberties protections that are ignored

Anti-social behaviour powers such as Community Protection Notices (CPNs) and Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) allow officers to impose legal restrictions if they think someone’s behaviour is having a ‘detrimental effect’ on the ‘quality of life’. These powers are incredibly broad, but there are a number of important civil liberties protections in the Statutory Guidance. Unfortunately, these protections are generally ignored. We are calling on the Home Office and MPs to ensure that Statutory Guidance is respected, including through amendments to the current Crime and Policing Bill. Here is an outline of protections in the Statutory Guidance. 1. There should be no…

PSPOs

Birmingham’s ban on peddling restricts our statutory rights

This is a guest post by Robert Campbell-Lloyd, administrator of pedlars.info, outlining his objections to Birmingham Council’s proposed ban on peddling in the city centre. Birmingham Council’s proposal to ban all peddling within the city centre is unlawful, unreasonable and unnecessary. Here are my objections to the measure below: 1. The PSPO unlawfully conflicts with the Pedlars Acts 1871 and 1881 The Pedlars Act 1871 establishes the right of individuals to trade as pedlars upon obtaining a Pedlar’s Certificate issued by the police. This right is further reinforced by the Pedlars Act 1881, which explicitly states that a certificated pedlar has the…

PSPOs • Public space

Sheffield Council’s PSPO will be a hard blow for the homeless

Sheffield Council recently introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order that will have a major effect on the lives of homeless people in the city, including bans on begging and loitering. Here is a guest post by Sheffield law lecturer Dr Ben Archer, urging the council to rethink. In April 2025, Sheffield City Council introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) aimed at addressing anti-social behaviour (ASB) in the city centre. The PSPO contains prohibitions on ‘Drinking alcohol in an anti-social manner’, ‘Begging’, ‘Loitering’, ‘Drug use’, ‘Public urination/defecation’, and imposes requirements to ‘Provide your details’ and ‘Leave the restricted area’. Punishment for breach…

Privacy

The police strip searching of young women is an outrage

StopWatch has launched a new report #GIRLSMATTERTOO, looking at women and girls’ experiences of the police. Here is a guest blogpost by StopWatch about the issue… A failure to safeguard female victims of crime. Unlawful strip searches used as a disciplinary tool. Unnecessary use of force during routine stops, often resulting in trauma. These are some of the shocking encounters with police experienced by racialised girls and young women surveyed for an upcoming StopWatch report. Under a participatory action model of research, a team of girls and young women conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 Black, Asian and Mixed-race girls and young women…

On-the-spot fines

Letter to Welwyn Hatfield Council re. corrupt ‘fly tipping’ penalties

Welwyn Hatfield Council’s private enforcement contract has led to a number of unfair penalties, including a man fined £500 for ‘fly tipping’ when an envelope blew out of his bin. This is an extract from the letter we sent to the council’s executive member for the environment. I’m writing to express my extreme concerns about cases related to your employment of District Enforcement. As I’m sure you will be aware, these include a man fined for ‘fly tipping’ when an envelope blew out of his bin, and people fined when their envelopes miraculously ended up on the floor of other communal bin…

Policy response

What are ‘Respect Orders’?

‘Respect Orders’ have been trailed by the Labour Party for over two years, as a way of getting ‘tough’ on ‘hooligans’ and tackling ‘the virus that is anti-social behaviour’. These powers have finally been published in the Crime and Policing Bill. The Manifesto Club finds that Respect Orders replicate the defects and injustices of the current Civil Injunction, and will increase these injustices. Our response is below. Respect Orders are almost identical to the current Civil Injunction power. Like Civil Injunctions, Respect Orders can be issued on application by various state bodies to the High Court or county court, and can impose…

Thinkpieces

Everyday freedom: a precious legacy

Manifesto Club Thinkpieces put our campaigning in broader perspective, exploring the underlying dynamics behind the state regulation of public spaces and informal life. This Thinkpiece by Dolan Cummings explores the historical and political background to our defence of everyday freedom. The idea that ‘Britain is a free country’ is so taken for granted that it’s more likely to elicit a roll of the eyes than a swell of pride. It’s a cliché associated with ‘Whig history’ and Cold War triumphalism. It might even be considered bad manners to imply our way of life is better than any other. And yet, would we…

Thinkpieces

The hyperregulation of everyday life

Manifesto Club Thinkpieces put our campaigning in broader perspective, exploring the underlying dynamics behind the state regulation of public spaces and informal life. This Thinkpiece by Manifesto Club director Josie Appleton explores the growing hyperregulation of everyday life. There should be large parts of life – in the streets, in our homes, and in informal life – where people organise things among themselves, and set their own rules, and the state intervenes only in the cases of violations or crimes. Over the past 20 years, state regulation has spread into everyday life, meaning that we increasingly conduct ourselves according to official codes…

Dispersal powers • Public space

Doncaster council’s draconian dispersal form

This is the form that Doncaster Council ‘city centre engagement officers’ use to bar people from the city centre. It shows that the pettiest council officers are being given absolute powers to order people around. The officer can ban someone if the officer thinks that the person ‘is likely to cause annoyance’ to any other person. The form allows the officer to specify when the person must leave the area (immediately/in 15 mins/30 mins/1 hour) The officer must state the ‘anti-social behaviour giving rise to the dispersal’ (this is the only slight requirement of evidence, but given the broad nature of the…