‘Busybody’ councils using little-known laws as chance to crack down on petty offences

ALAMY

Hillingdon Council gave out PSPO penalties for not having a dog on a lead

Public Space Protection Orders allow local authorities to ban spitting, skateboarding and rough sleeping to help improve quality of life.

But civil liberties group the Manifesto Club says heavy-handed use of laws is giving councils free rein to criminalise the most trivial of offences.

Those targeted included dog walkers and street performers.

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Councils were at first slow to use PSPOs, but now they are being whipped out in response to a wide variety of local disputes or problems

Jodie Appleton – Manifesto Club director

Its report PSPOs: A Busybodies’ Charter, released today, reveals that 152 out of 348 local authorities in England and Wales have an order in place.

Freedom of Information requests sent to every council across the two countries also show a staggering 551 per cent rise in the number of PSPO fines, from 197 issued in the first year to 1,282 in the second.

Manifesto Club director Jodie Appleton warned the PSPOs were undemocratic as they were being handed out without full council approval.

ALAMY

The ‘busybody’ councils are targeting street performers

The report revealed Hillingdon Council in west London gave out the most PSPO penalties, with 514 in the year between October 2015 and October 2016 for offences such as like spitting, playing loud music in town centres and not having a dog on a lead.

Walking more than four dogs at once has been outlawed in Richmond, southwest London, Gosport, Hampshire and Three Rivers in Hertfordshire.

Holding out a chip to a gull in East Devon could land you in trouble while Havering Council’s use of an order to punish parents who drop off or pick up children in designated zones outside four east London primary schools as using “a sledgehammer to crack a nut”.

And dog owners in Sheffield could be fined if their pets are off the lead near an organised event, including public fun days or a Sunday league football match.

Between March and June this year, 10 councils have used the powers to ban swearing, which Ms Appleton claims is turning them into the “language police”.

She added: “Councils were at first slow to use PSPOs, but now they are being whipped out in response to a wide variety of local disputes or problems.

GETTY – STOCK IMAGE

Walking more than four dogs at once has been outlawed in Richmond

“The result is a patchwork of vague, absurd criminal law, which people do not understand and cannot be enforced with any consistency.”

Simon Blackburn, chairman of the Local Government Association’s safer and stronger communities board, said PSPOs are an “effective way of tackling antisocial behaviour”.

He added: “These are serious issues that make the lives of victims a misery – in some cases with tragic consequences.”

Mr Blackburn said individual orders have to be reviewed every three years.