Agenda item

Report to follow

Penny Button, Head of Neighbourhoods, presented this report and made the following points:

·  The Council’s antisocial behaviour PSPO and alcohol PSPA were due to expire on 31 July 2024;

·  This resulted in a positive impact in Thanet, reducing the numbers of negative behaviours.

The Panel discussed the report, made comments and asked questions as follows:

·  Councillors asked how Thanet District Council worked with the police on these issues, as they cited an experience when street drinking was reported, but the police were busy at the time. Officers replied that they work with the police to focus on different hot spots as well as working with the Forward Trust, Rise Team and other mental health services. This was to tackle the problem from a holistic point of view, rather than an enforcement one;

·  Councillors mentioned that they had issue with the vagueness behind the definition of Section 7 of the report, which was defined as “All persons prohibited from using language or behaviour causing or likely to cause harassment or alarm, or distress to any other person” as they had a problem defining more specifically what that meant as they believed this could be applied to anyone who decided to be part of a protest. Officers informed Councillors that this definition did not cover protests, but did apply to a congregation of two or more people being abusive, threatening, alarming, insulting, harassing and distressing as identified in legislation;

·  Legal officers mentioned that the way the order was drafted needed further review due to some of the provisions that were too wide. Changes had been made to it, covering a significant change to the restricted area, which no longer covered the whole of Thanet, but only areas where the Council had evidence that those activities were being restricted. Also the restriction behind antisocial congregation was narrowed and defined as what was previously stated. The misuse of public space restriction has also been narrowed, to apply to only areas where the public space is not being used as intended. The restriction for abusive language was also narrowed to only apply to the use of foul or abusive language, that is used in such a manner which is loud, can be heard by others and causes offence, upset, alarm or distress. The consumption of alcohol restriction was also narrowed to apply to those consuming alcohol in restricted areas and behaving in a way to cause nuisance, harassment, alarm and distress. The restriction behind the requirement for someone to surrender their container of alcohol had also been narrowed, to apply to someone who is intoxicated and is causing a nuisance, alarm or distress. These restrictions have also been defined to apply to the use of legal psychoactive substances as well;

·  Councillors expressed their desire to have other teams and services more involved with this rather than just the police and enforcement, for example with the look of the town when it came to cosmetics, such as flower beds. They asked if signage could be looked at as well as further public engagement in order to open up discussion with the offenders themselves, in order to help improve their situations;

·  Councillors asked about the strategy behind auditing how effective these measures were and how well they were enforced. Officers replied that they did surveys with the public and engaged with the public to get feedback on their point of views and look at statistics provided by the police themselves in order to carry out the Council's strategic assessment. They went on to say that this was an approach to educate the public;

·  Councillors asked what the Council’s way of approaching the task force itself was, in order to focus them on a particular problem. Officers replied that this would come down to the Community Safety Partnership and could be done through Penny Button herself or through her team;

·  Councillors made note that they were keen to be involved in as many ways as possible to help support their wards in dealing with these issues. This can involve engaging the public through surveys and working closer to the Neighbourhoods team;

·  Councillors asked if it was just the police who could enforce PSPOs and how many enforcement officers did the Council have. Officers replied that there were five officers under Jo-Anna Taylor, with some more in the street enforcement team and beach enforcement team. They went on to say that only employees of Thanet District Council or the police can enforce these measures;

·  Councillors asked if there were any plans to go into schools to inform them of the PSPO and restrictions. Officers replied that schools were involved in the consultation period itself, including the TDC Youth Council.

The Panel agreed that they had concerns regarding resources for enforcing the PSPOs, but were happy to send the report to Cabinet.