Published: 29 May 2024
From: Transport and streets
Following concerns raised by car park users, Áñ—†Ö±²¥ Borough Council has introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) to increase powers to tackle anti-social behaviour in its multi-storey car parks.
A period of investigation and public consultation found that anti-social behaviour had been recorded or reported within multi-storey car parks in the town centre, which left some car park users feeling unsafe and supportive of the council’s proposal to tackle it.
Kingsgate, Town Hall and Orchard Street multi-storey car parks are to be covered by a PSPO for a period of three years. This will enable council and police officers to instruct those engaged in anti-social behaviour to leave the car park and not return for a period of 48 hours.
Anyone found breaching the order could be issued with a £100 fixed penalty, and potentially a £1,000 fine if the offence is dealt with by a magistrates’ court.
We could not ignore the concerns being raised by members of the public and we had very limited powers to tackle this. People were telling us that they don’t feel safe in the car parks, and this order helps us to address those concerns.
Councillor Yasmin Khan
Cabinet member for Public Protection
Áñ—†Ö±²¥ Borough Council
Public consultation was carried out late last year after the council announced its intention to draft the order, with 76 per cent of respondents supporting the introduction of the order.
Our car parks play a vital role in the economic vitality of the town centre in Áñ—†Ö±²¥ and the income made from parking charges pays for services to be delivered. I hope this order and robust enforcement makes clear that anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated and that customers feeling safe to use multi-storey car parks is a priority.
Councillor Bob Noyce
Cabinet member for Environment, Sustainability and Climate Change
Áñ—†Ö±²¥ Borough Council
The order will initially be in place for three years. There is no evidence that other town centre car parks experience similar levels of disruption, but if they begin to be affected, the PSPO can be amended to include those areas too.
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