Issue - meetings

1.  That, in principle, the Committee agrees to proceed with public consultation on the implementation of a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO). See Appendix 1 for proposed PSPO location map and boundaries, which incorporates the town centre (High Street ward), Whatman Park (Bridge) and Riverside (Fant, South and Tovil) areas.

2.  That it be agreed that Borough Council commences an 8 week public consultation from 30 November 2015.

John Littlemore, Head of Housing and Community Services introduced the Public Spaces Protection Order for Town Centre report. A Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) was part of the new tools and powers introduced in the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014.  The purpose of the act was to give local authorities and other bodies more effective powers to tackle Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB).  The report set out the Council’s proposal to consult on the introduction of a PSPO.

The PSPO would give the Council greater powers in relation to dealing with ASB in public spaces within the town centre.

During the course of the discussion the following points were made:

• If challenged the PSPO needed to demonstrate an ongoing issue and meet the two conditions as set out at paragraph 2.8 of the report. A PSPO could be introduced to address specific issues in other areas of the borough where there was an evidential need;

• The consultation would be borough wide and a response could be made online via the Council’s website;

• The PSPO, as proposed, would come back to the Committee for formal adoption in 2016; and

• The appropriate method for addressing the issue of retailer’s selling high strength alcohol was through licencing and the Council’s ‘Reduce the Strength’ campaign.

The Committee agreed that the third recommendation, as set out in the report, should be deleted as it simply stated the Committee’s responsibilities going forward.

RESOLVED:

1.  That, in principle, the Committee agrees to proceed with public consultation on the implementation of a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO). See Appendix 1 for proposed PSPO location map and boundaries, which incorporates the town centre (High Street ward), Whatman Park (Bridge) and Riverside (Fant, South and Tovil) areas.

For: 5  Against: 4  Abstentions: 0

2.  That the Borough Council commences an 8 week public consultation from 30 November 2015 be agreed.

For: 8  Against: 0  Abstentions: 1