Consultation on Renewal of Public Spaces Protection Orders for Anti-Social Behaviour and Dog Control

Overview

Richmond Council introduced two Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) in October 2017. PSPOs are powers available to local authorities to restrict problem behaviours and ensure that public spaces are safe and enjoyable for everyone to use.

For a PSPO to be put in place, activities with detrimental effects on the local community must be occurring or be likely to occur, and the effects or likely effects must be continuing, unreasonable and justify the restriction.

Our PSPO for Anti-Social Behaviour prohibits or restricts behaviours that are recurring problems for users of public spaces. The PSPO for Dog Control places requirements and restrictions to encourage responsible dog walking.

The measures in both orders apply mainly to council parks but some also apply to rights of way, highways, all council land or the entire borough, and are all aimed at ensuring our shared spaces are usable and accessible for all residents and visitors.

PSPOs are powers available under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. Fixed Penalty Notices can be given for offences. Enforcement under these PSPOs is predominantly undertaken by the Council, which takes an educational approach by using the orders as a tool to improve behaviour, with penalties used only where considered necessary. On occasion, Council enforcement may be supported by the Police. Under the current orders, over 700 warnings have been given and 44 penalty notices issued under the PSPOs to date.

The Council considers that the PSPOs have been successful; they have proven an improved deterrent and enabled a better response when problems are observed by authorised officers. However, over 1000 resident complaints over the same period demonstrate that the issues covered by the PSPOs remain ongoing.

Under the legislation, PSPOs remain in place for three years, at which point they can be extended, amended or discontinued. The Council is proposing to extend the existing PSPOs for a further three years to deal with the problems observed by residents and officers and prevent an increase of some behaviours that have reduced.

You can view a summary of the PSPO restrictions here and the full draft Orders can be found at the bottom of this page.

The Equality Impact Needs Assessment (EINA) here explains any potential impacts the proposed PSPO restrictions might have on groups with protected characteristics.

Have your say

As part of this process, we would like to hear the views of people living in, working in or visiting the borough. We would be grateful if you could  take the time to respond using the online survey below.

If you would like a paper copy of the questionnaire, please contact us at parks@richmond.gov.uk or call 020 8891 1411.

What happens next

All responses to the consultation will be analysed and carefully considered before being reported with all other available evidence to the full Council meeting in September.

If implemented, the PSPOs would be introduced for three years and reviewed on a regular basis.