Issue - meetings

The Council’s Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in relation to anti-social behaviour will expire at the end of March 2023.  This report sets out the options available to the Council in respect of this Order.

The Community Safety Officer introduced the report and advised members that the Council’s Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in relation antisocial behaviour was due to expire at the end of March 2023. He confirmed that the report set out the options available to the Council in respect of the Order and that if the recommendation was accepted by committee it would be renewed for a further 3 years on the same terms as the current order.

The Chair thanked the Community Safety Officer for his introduction and confirmed to members that on page 81 of the agenda they could see the specific area locations that were being referred to. She then invited members to make any comment or ask questions where it was queried how the PSPO would help those areas that are subject to large groups of people who drink in public. It was confirmed that it would create a threshold by which officers could then deal with. The Chair stated that the Police would be required to make a judgement call as to whether anti-social behaviour was occurring.

It was then asked what action would be taken specifically when ‘moving people’ on from areas. The Community Safety Officer provided an example of  feedback from Community Wardens. The Vice-Chair then commented that it was an extension of something members agreed and discussed at length in a member workshop not long after the 2019 Election where it was explained that managing this type of behaviour was a balancing act. The PSPO had worked for the purpose it was implemented for.

The recommendation was then proposed by Councillor Hughes and seconded by Councillor Yeates

The Committee

          RESOLVED

1)  the PSPO, as it is currently set out, be extended for a further three years with effect from April 2023.