We regularly seek to keep Professional Security Magazine readers up to date about PSPOs. Here we feature the Cambridge City Council Public Spaces Protection Order (Touting) 2016.
Briefly, Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) are made by councils; usually to cover fouling by dogs, or littering, or anti-social behaviour such as aggressive begging, urinating or on-street drinking. One trend has been towards making orders city or town-wide, or covering all of a council’s area, which begs the question of enforcement. Another trend is seeing PSPOs to counter nuisance driving such as car cruising. Orders can be a response to a specific issue such as protests by anti-abortion campaigners outside a clinic; or barbecues and fires on beaches. Cambridge has its particular issue of punt touting. Whatever the PSPO, as they come up for renewal every three years, the persistent question is; are they working?
There remains a persistent presences of unreported nuisance punt touting in the city centre (pictured), according to a report to Cambridge city councillors. A PSPO covering touting lapses in September, and by law the council must decide whether to renew, vary or discharge the order; and in any case go out to consultation.
As the report by Keryn Jalli, Community Safety Manager, recalled, the PSPO dates from 2016 to address nuisance punt touting’, operators and individuals selling punt tours in the city centre, mostly in Market Square and above all King’s Parade. The problem, and efforts to address it, were not new; a (voluntary) code of practice for the ‘Visitor Industry’, including punt touts, dated from 2012.
As elsewhere, the covid-19 pandemic greatly affected tourism in Cambridge, though the report suggested that by April 2022 footfall and spending had returned to pre-pandemic levels. Opinions differ whether the touting is aggressive or part of the fabric of the busy city centre.
Some of the quoted responses from a consultation suggested that the order should remain, as a deterrent, although it’s little used; even before covid, hardly any PSPO fines were issued against touts, and none in the financial year so far. Almost all those who witnessed punt touting did not report it to the council – ‘the most common reason given was that they did not know they could report it’, the report said. If the PSPO were to cease, one punt operator said they were certain that more touts would operate outside of permitted ‘touting zones’ would ensue, meaning a return to ‘the days of numerous complaints of nuisance touting the city centre, with no recourse for poor behaviour’.
Separately, the city is extending its Dog Control PSPO, first introduced in 2017.
Prosecution
Breach of a PSPO is a criminal offence under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. Police, or a person authorised by the council, including a private contractor, can issue an FPN (fixed penalty notice). A person can also be prosecuted for breach of a PSPO and fined by magistrates.
