Littering, spitting, and urinating - some of the reasons for ASBO-style orders used on thousands of occasions in Peterborough by the city council

Campaigners the Manifesto Club warn the “busybody” powers used by councils threaten people’s freedoms and have called for them to be scrapped, although the city council has given reasons for the imposition of all the orders.

The City Council issued 3,772 fines for the violation of Public Spaces Protection Orders in 2019, according to Freedom of Information requests submitted by the group – more than any other council that provided figures.

A council can issue PSPOs to ban activities it judges have had, or will have, a “detrimental” effect on the quality of life of people in the area.

The reasons given for the penalties included littering, spitting, and urinating.

Peterborough City Council also gave out three Community Protection Notices in the year to October last year.

The orders can place legal restrictions on people whose behaviour is deemed to have a similar negative effect on a community’s quality of life.

The council said the CPNs were given out for reasons including begging, anti-social behaviour, storing a trailer on a highway, and failure to repair a perimeter fence.

Across England and Wales, 8,760 CPNs were issued by 202 councils in the year to October – the highest number recorded by the civil liberties group and up from 6,234 by 192 councils the previous year.

Councils gave out 10,413 PSPOs in 2019, up from 9,930 a year earlier.

Director of the Manifesto Club Josie Appleton said the test for what constitutes detrimental behaviour was “unprecedentedly low” for criminal intervention, and that the powers were hard to appeal.

She added: “These blank-cheque busybody powers are the cause of immense injustice, and a fundamental threat to our freedoms. They should be removed from the statute book.”

The use of the powers was very unevenly spread between areas – while Nottingham City Council issued the most CPNS of those that provided figures (1,464), more than 80 said they hadn’t used them at all.

And while Peterborough City Council dispensed more than a third of the fines recorded for breaking PSPOs, almost 150 said they made no use of the order.

The powers were introduced by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

The Home Office issued fresh guidance on their use in 2017, saying particular care should be taken with the use of CPNs on “vulnerable members of society”.

But Ms Appleton said 31 councils had used them to target the homeless.

A spokesperson for Peterborough City Council said: “The introduction of the city centre PSPO in 2017 has made a real difference in keeping our city centre safe and clean, helping to transform the area into an attractive, welcoming and thriving place.

“Our officers do not and never have issued fixed penalty notices against any rough sleepers. Instead, our protocol is to engage with anybody seen sleeping rough in the city centre and to offer them necessary support. We will however look to take action against anyone seen begging aggressively, if that person is identified as a resident rather than a rough sleeper.

“We are fully committed to working with our partners to help rough sleepers in Peterborough to access the support they need to get off the streets and into accommodation.”

The Local Government Association defended their use as “one of a number of ways councils can tackle persistent anti-social behaviour problems raised by local communities”.

Nesil Caliskan, chairman of the LGA’s safer and stronger communities board, said: “PSPOs and CPNs will not be suitable or effective in all circumstances, and councils will consider other approaches which may better resolve the anti-social behaviour identified.

“As with other council services, PSPOs are subject to scrutiny by democratically elected councillors, and councils must consult with community representatives under the legislation, along with the police before implementing them.”