Alterations to legislation that aims to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Spalding town centre are being proposed, but a bid to add cycling offences to it won’t go ahead.
The Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) came into force 10 years ago which gave powers to officers to hand out fines to those found spitting, litter, urinating or defecating and failing to comply with an order to stop drinking.
In a proposal to extend it for at least another three years, the latter is the one proposed to remain.
The council says the others are covered by existing legislation for which bigger fines can be handed out.
For example the Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) in PSPO is for £100, but a fine of £250 is permitted for littering under the Environment Protection Act.
“Inclusion of the condition relating to alcohol consumption remains necessary to prevent the occurrence or recurrence of the street drinking behaviour identified at the time the order was made,” the report to go before South Holland District Council’s Policy Development Panel states. “Extending the PSPO for a further three-year period is likely to mitigate any escalation in the frequency or severity of such behaviour. It will also ensure that appropriate enforcement action can continue to be taken against those engaging in ASB within the town centre, helping to maintain a safe environment for those who live in, work in, and visit the area.”
The Spalding Business Improvement District had called on cycling in pedestrian areas to be included in the PSPO.
It put forward 146 comments or pieces of evidence, but the report says the district council’s survey of people only saw seven per cent respond that they wanted a crack down on bikes which it describes as (low).
It argues “a combined approach’ is needed.
“Having met with the police, Lincolnshire County Council Active Travel and South Holland DC Community Safety, we appreciate it is not necessarily appropriate for a PSPO to deal with it though this channel,” said BID manager Sarah Fletcher.
“We can share that since we have highlighted the cycling issues, various authorities have acknowledged with us that better education, signage and potential clear cycle routes through town need to be in place and are working on this.”
Ms Fletcher said BID stood by its opposition to taking litter and spitting out of the PSPO.
“Whilst at least one of the areas is covered by Kingdom Enforcement Officers; ie, littering, the enforcement team has to manage the whole of South Holland District not just Spalding, meaning their officers cannot be in the town centre every day so our thoughts were and still are, why remove these anti-social restrictions? Doing so could send out a very mixed message to the public.”
It had also wanted to extend the PSPO area to include two railway bridges, but the report argues that there’s ‘insufficient evidence’ that is needed.
According to the statistics with the report, since the start of 2023 nearly half of all Lincolnshire Police’s reports of drunken behaviour in South Holland related to Spalding town centre and 64 per cent of all alcohol related anti-social behaviour in the district.
“Whilst reported incidents of street drinking are low, the issue is frequently highlighted in public consultations, surveys and on social media as an ongoing concern for residents,” the report states. “Possible reasons for the low level of formal reporting include a perception that no action will be taken, uncertainty about who is responsible for reporting such issues, reluctance to become involved, or fear of confrontation or reprisals.”
Last year there were 77 instances of formal action being taken over street drinking compared with 16 in total for the two years previous.
They include 12 Community Protection Notices, though a quarter of those were found to have been breached. In total there were 827 Fixed Penalty Notices handed out last year, mostly for littering.
That was up from the 735 the previous year but down on the 2023 figure of 788.
