Shrewsbury town centre ban on anti-social behaviour to be extended

The Shrewsbury Town Centre Public Spaces Protection Order was approved by Shropshire Council’s cabinet in June last year and its extension is expected to be approved by the cabinet today..

The news comes just a day after calls were made to tackle anti-social behaviour from homeless people in Shrewsbury.

Shrewsbury Town Council, Shropshire Council, the police, and the local MP are to join forces in a bid to reduce the number of rough sleepers in the town.

Banned

The PSPO bans anti-social behaviour in public areas - specifically urinating, defecating, leaving personal belongings and continuing to drink alcohol after being asked to stop.

Breaching the order - which covers the town centre area within the river loop and a part of Mountfields which includes Frankwell car park and the playing fields adjacent - can lead to a fine of up to £1,000 or a £75 fixed penalty notice, reduced to £50 if paid within 10 days.

The order also gives police and authorised council officers the power to order people causing a nuisance to leave the area for 48 hours.

However the order specifically does not prohibit begging or rough sleeping, both of which have become commonplace in Pride Hill and surrounding areas, as the council was keen to avoid criminalising particular groups or targeting homeless people.

• MORE: Meeting called as homelessness in Shrewsbury reaches 'epidemic proportions'

The report being presented to cabinet today explains: "The wording of the order was specifically drafted in a way to avoid any allegation that the council was targeting any specific group or type of individuals and particularly does not prohibit begging or rough sleeping.

"It is recognised that these individuals are vulnerable with complex needs and it is inappropriate to prohibit these activities where the infrastructure and support is not sufficiently available to prevent individuals resorting to these measures."

Data

Data presented to cabinet for the period from April last year and March this year shows there were 46 recorded incidents of urinating or defecating, and 426 times personal belongings had been left, of which 213 were drug-related litter.

The most instances of drugs litter being found were in September 2017, with 41, February 2018, with 33, and March 2018, with 36.

There were also 164 alcohol-related incidents including littering, and 822 dispersal orders were made in the time frame, banning people from the town centre for 48 hours.

Action has been taken against a total of 49 people using the PSPO since it came into effect in June. Of these 28 were under the age of 18.

The table below shows that asking people to leave the restricted area was the most common use of the order:

The report concludes: "The continuing nature of the behaviours being experienced within the restricted area in Shrewsbury continues to raise concerns.

"The actions taken under the order have been used against a broad spectrum of individuals to effectively address these concerns and currently repeat offending on a significant scale is not evident.

"This indicates the action being taken under the order is proportionate and effective and supports the need for the order to remain in force to provide an additional enforcement tool that the police can continue to use to resolve lower level anti-social behaviour in Shrewsbury town centre."

The Public Spaces Protection Order is set to be approved by Shropshire Council’s cabinet today.