Consultations and surveys Manchester City Centre PSPO Review 2023 Consultation

City Centre PSPO Review

Background:

To achieve our strategic objective of a safe, clean and welcoming city centre the Council and the police use a wide range of informal and formal powers to protect the public and tackle crime and antisocial behaviour. These measures include community resolution, warnings, Acceptable Behaviour Agreements, Community Protection Notices, injunctions and Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPO).  

Following consultation in 2019, the decision was taken to make a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) in the city centre to address a range of anti-social behaviours including: 

  • Consumption of alcohol 
  • Discarding of needles 
  • Urination and defecation 
  • Storage and collection of commercial waste 
  • Health and/or safety risks related to obstruction and tents or structures 

A PSPO is an order that identifies a public place and prohibits specified things being done in the restricted area and/or requires specified things to be done by persons carrying out specified activities in that area. 

Read more about the order, which was made on the 21 July 2020 for a period of three years.  

Before the order expires in July 2023, we need to review the impact of the PSPO. To do this, we have considered - among other things - the enforcement action taken and impact on those behaviours.  

Proposal:

Covid restrictions were introduced in March 2020. As a result the enforcement of the PSPO was delayed until non-essential retail and outdoor hospitality started to reopen on 12 April 2021. A period of engagement took place before enforcement activity was introduced from May 2021. 

The delay to the enforcement of the PSPO has limited the period of its operation and any related activity, which restricts the data available to understand the impact and effectiveness of the PSPO to just over a year.  It's proposed, therefore, that the current PSPO is continued for a further 3 years to address ongoing behaviours in the City Centre and to allow for better evaluation of the order's impact.  

Detail of action taken and evidence of ongoing ASB.

Nitrous Oxide:

Following increasing reports of ASB relating to use of Nitrous Oxide we are also consulting on the prevalence and impact of these behaviours to consider whether anti-social behaviours relating to the use of Nitrous Oxide should be included in the PSPO.

Read more about nitrous oxide and then see our draft of the new, proposed PSPO for the city centre.

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