Public Spaces Protection Orders

What is a PSPO?

The Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) was introduced in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to allow local authorities flexibility in protecting public spaces from persistent anti-social or unwelcome behaviour.

PSPO’s must be extended, discharged or varied after a period of three years. Breach of an order may result in a fixed penalty of £100, or an offender can be summoned to appear at court.

Following extensive consultation in 2017 and 2021 the Borough Council introduced a number of PSPOs to address a variety of behaviours.

What does a PSPO mean for me?

Most people won’t be affected by the introduction of PSPOs as they are specifically targeted to address unwanted behaviour caused by a minority of residents or visitors to our town or borough.

Details follow and you can also read (or listen) to the various committee meetings where PSPOs were presented to members. Links to committee meetings and additional documentation are provided below.

Proposals for orders expiring in 2025

A number of our orders are set to expire in June 2025 and we propose to extend them. Typically, an extension would be for a period of three years (to June 2028) but we propose a slightly shorter timespan to bring them into line with other orders expiring in October 2027. This will reduce the administrative overhead and allow for easier maintenance going forward.

These are our proposals for orders expiring in 2025:

Current Orders

In addition to the above proposals, we recently extended a number of other orders, as shown in the table below:

Rationale for the proposals

Dog control at Dunorlan

This order is fully supported by the Friends Group with anecdotal evidence strongly suggesting a positive change in park visitors’ behaviour.

The order provides guidance on where dogs should be kept under control, and there is a clearly signposted area, of considerable size, where dogs can be exercised off lead.

No fixed penalty notices have been issued during this time, however, the occasional presence of uniformed enforcement officers has proved effective in educating the public.

Alcohol and camping at Sherwood Lake

These orders have been partially effective, bringing about some change in behaviour.  However, enforcement has been a challenge.

On occasions when individuals have been present the morning after a disturbance (if police were unable to attend), words of advice have been given to anglers. During the summer, one such visit resulted in police seizing a small amount of cannabis from a young person. Parents were contacted and there was some follow up afterwards. On several occasions young people, and adults, have also been encouraged to clean up after themselves.

Late-night noise at St John’s Park

The curfew was introduced following significant late-night issues over a number of years. Noise nuisance was the main factor with nearby residents regularly disturbed by nighttime visitors.

Since the order was implemented, the dynamics for residents living near St John’s Park changed considerably. Late-night noise nuisance was seemingly replaced by daytime noise, verbal abuse, physical assaults and costly criminal damage.

It is difficult to measure if the PSPO encouraged behaviour change but the order is a reasonable restriction, and we will look to extend it for a further period.

Loitering in car parks

The team with responsibility for the Council’s car parks report a marked improvement in anti-social behaviour within the multi-storeys since the order has been in place. However, on occasions they continue to suffer from tagging (graffiti), as well as some alcohol misuse and related disorder.

We propose to extend the order for a further period.