Election time!!
As a politically independent non-profit we do not support any particular Party but what we do urge is that you question all your candidates on Public Spaces Protection Orders during the campaign.
Keep Streets Live opposes PSPO’s on principal as they impose blanket bans on behaviours regardless of whether or not any harm/loss is being caused. Clearly this is an ambitious target but we also believe that in the event that they are used:
– New PSPOs should be scrutinised independently to ensure they comply with Home Office guidance ( a FOI request discovered that the Home Office keep no record of PSPOs, meaning that there is no oversight to their implementation)
– Challenges/appeals against existing PSPOs should be free (they are currently too expensive for citizens) and those who have been fined as a result of them should be entitled to legal aid if they wish to appeal
– Private companies (such as Kingdom in Peterborough) should be barred from being contracted to issue fines
– Financial incentives (again, see Peterborough) to individual officers for issuing fines should be banned