Tag Archives: Public Space Protection Orders

Public Spaces Protection Orders are out of control

By David Gray | Mon 15th August 2022 - 2:17 pm

On Monday 15th August, a new Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) will come into force in Birmingham, banning all busking from two of the most profitable locations in the city. There are a number of councils around the country who have introduced restrictions on busking using PSPOs, but Birmingham City Council’s decision to introduce a blanket ban on busking in these areas, whether or not they are acting reasonably and considerately, is unusual.

Despite assurances from Shirley Williams during the introduction of the PSPO as a tool to clamp down on anti-social behaviour that “they (PSPOs) should not use the new powers to stop reasonable activities such as busking or other forms of street entertainment that are not causing anti-social behaviour”, these rules are being flouted up and down the country. Why? Because there are no mechanisms in place to stop them.

The case of the Birmingham Busking Ban is particularly egregious. A Freedom of Information Request released during the consultation period showed that, of the 81 complaints received by the council about busking in the two areas specified, 77 were from the same individual. He is well known in the area as someone who has a track record of verbal aggression towards the city’s street entertainers, particularly the young female ones.

Posted in Op-eds | 4 Comments

How to criminalise virtually everyone

By Mary Reid | Mon 29th February 2016 - 4:03 pm

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I had not heard of the Manifesto Club until today, when the BBC Today programme featured their report into Public Space Protection Orders (1 hour 21 minutes in).

On their website they claim:

The Manifesto Club campaigns against the hyperregulation of everyday life. We support free movement across borders, free expression and free association. We challenge booze bans, photo bans, vetting and speech codes – all new ways in which the state regulates everyday life on the streets, in workplaces and in our private lives.

We believe that the freedom issues of the twenty-first century cut across old political boundaries, and require new schools of political thought, and new methods of campaigning and organisation.

Our membership hails from all political traditions and none, and from all corners of the world.

Back to Public Space Protection Orders: last month the Manifesto Club published a report called PSPOs: A busybodies’ charter. These are orders that local councils have been allowed to enact over the last year or so under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, with minimal consultation. Indeed 79 local authorities have already done so, usually because they want to reduce anti-social behaviour. But the impact of these orders sometimes goes far beyond the intended targets and can seriously curb the human rights of citizens.