Warning to car cruisers as protection order at Peterborough car park in place for three years

The order, proposed by Peterborough City Council, aims to tackle vehicle-related anti-social behaviour at Pleasure Fair Meadow Car Park, which has become a hotspot for unauthorised car meets and car cruising events.

The car park is located near numerous residential buildings, with the people living nearby impacted by persistent noise, smoke and odours as well as littering when the events take place.

Cabinet member for housing and communities, Cllr Alison Jones, authorised the implementation of the PSPO on July 3 after a consultation which found that 151 out of 169 responses supported it.

Cllr Jones said: "We are fully committed to working with partners, including the police, to keep members of the public safe and develop strong and sustainable communities, which our PSPOs in Peterborough are helping us to achieve.

"In this case, we have listened to feedback from residents and are taking direct action by setting up a PSPO aimed at tackling crime and improving the quality of life for communities within this area of the city."

A PSPO includes conditions which anyone caught breaching can face fines of up to £1,000 or Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs).

Pleasure Fair Meadow Car Park is monitored by a council operated CCTV camera and, from April 2023 to November 2024, 32 incidents were logged concerning anti-social or dangerous driving and vehicle-related ASB.

These ranged from large scale car meets of approximately 300 cars to smaller gatherings of vehicles with drivers carrying out stunts such as doughnuts, hand brake turns and other dangerous driving.

Leader of the Liberal Democrat group, Cllr Christian Hogg, represents the Fletton and Stanground ward where the car park is located.

He was also part of a task and finish group set up in late 2020 which examined issues relating to car cruising in Peterborough and recommended a PSPO be implemented at Pleasure Fair Meadow.

Cllr Hogg said: "We asked for this as an outcome from the working group and it has taken an incredibly long time to get to the point where we are right now.

“It is absolutely most welcome, as the residents around Pleasure Fair Meadow Car Park have been blighted for years with screeching tyres, revving engines and loud music on a regular basis."

He added: "Hopefully this PSPO will finally produce a solution because it gives the police far more power to move people on and for them to not come back 15 minutes later."

Independent councillor Julie Stevenson was the chair of the task and finish group created to examine the issue.

She said: “This is great. It has taken a long time but now it is here and hopefully it will be effective in just getting people some nights where they can sleep again when these events are going on."

In Peterborough there are currently two area PSPOs - one in the city centre and one covering the Millfield, New England, Eastfield and Embankment areas.

There are also six PSPOs which are for the gating of alleyways that have previously experienced significant anti-social behaviour which has had a detrimental impact on communities.