A protection rule in a Sheffield city centre crackdown on anti-social behaviour will begin next week.
Councillors backed plans to implement a public spaces protection order in December after almost a year-long public consultation involving more than 1,200 individuals and 77 organisations. The PSPO provides police officers and other local authorities with expanded powers to deal with anti-social behaviour, such as public drinking and drug use, loitering, urination, and begging.
Sheffield City Council announced today the PSPO will come into force on Monday April 7, and will cover the entire of the city centre, tracking the inner ring road from the University tram stop, down to Shalesmoor, behind the train station and up St Mary’s Gate and Hannover Way.
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The council said 87 per cent of organisations consulted agreed with the introduction of the PSPO, with officers now able to hand out on-the-spot fines to those behaving anti-socially. In Sheffield, drunk people “loitering” is a particular issue, the council argued. This is not a specific crime, but it can lead to anti-social behaviour, and councillors said a protection order will help prevent this.
Councillor Kurtis Crossland, chair of the Communities, Parks and Leisure Committee at Sheffield City Council, said the council is working hard to ensure the city centre is “safe and inviting”, with residents and visitors “having an enjoyable and positive experience when they visit”.
He added: “Sheffield is one of the safest cities in the country and a PSPO would work towards keeping it that way. It’s about protecting people and stopping anti-social behaviour that might make anyone feel unsafe or insecure.”
The council said 97 out of 100 surveyed city centre businesses said they had experienced anti-social behaviour in the last year, while public drinking at Sheffield Interchange and Arundel Gate were highlighted as key issues. British Transport Police also reported anti-social behaviour related to begging and drinking at the train station.
Barnsley introduced its PSPO in 2016. It was the first South Yorkshire area to do so. Doncaster, Rotherham, Leeds and Bradford all have PSPOs in place, and the council argued people travel to Sheffield city centre to beg due to these orders.
Concerns have been raised about anti-social behaviour simply moving outside the PSPO boundaries, into Kelham Island, along Ecclesall Road and into other surrounding neighbourhoods, but the council argued the disruption caused would be diluted across across several areas.
A PSPO will be introduced in Sheffield city centre next week -Credit:Sheffield City Council
The Sheffield Green Party said the PSPO is “not fit for purpose”. Councillor for Gleadless Valley Marieanne Elliot said: “Is it really sensible to issue a £100 Penalty Charge Notice to someone who is begging?” She called into question what “loitering” actually means, and questioned whether the rules will be applied fairly.
Ms Elliot added: “The council could use resources more effectively by working on tackling some of the root causes, rather than considering punishing people with punitive sanctions. There is extensive empirical research that says this sort of action can disproportionately affect the most vulnerable; people experiencing trauma, poverty, unmet support needs, those excluded from the housing market.”
Superintendent Paul Ferguson, of South Yorkshire Police, said existing legislation does not allow police or local authority officers to challenge current problematic behaviour in the city centre as robustly as they would like. “The prohibitions which our PSPO will introduce have been shaped through public feedback and our own colleagues’ recognition of the problems we come across,” he said.
“Its introduction will help officers shift standards of behaviour in the city centre through taking early action to prevent the types of anti-social behaviour that affect residents, visitors, and businesses in our city centre. Our teams are trained in how to implement the new powers introduced by the PSPO and they will be used proportionately and progressively with the aim of preventing harm to individuals and the wider community.”
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