John Denley, Director of Public Health, introduced the report and outlined the background to the report and presented it to the Board for comment.
The Director advised the Board that the current Public Space Protection Order - Drinking Restrictions (PSPO) covered the period April 2017 to April 2020. The report was seeking support for the recommendation to renew the PSPO with the same restrictions as before.
The Director invited Chris Jellyman, Neighbourhood Safety Co-ordinator, to share the findings of the public consultation exercise about the proposal to renew the existing PSPO to prohibit public drinking and also to extend this restriction to cover the whole City.
The Neighbourhood Safety Co-ordinator outlined the key findings from the public consultation exercise about proposed changes to the PSPO, that was recently held. The PSPO granted powers to the police to stop people drinking and to surrender alcohol if they were either causing or likely to cause ASB.
The public consultation ran from 27 May 2020 to 29 June 2020 and 537 responses to the survey had been submitted by the public. The Neighbourhood Safety Co-ordinator gave a summary of the public response to the survey questions and then outlined the next steps in the process to renew the PSPO. The Chair thanked the Neighbourhood Safety Co-ordinator for the presentation and invited questions from the Board.
The Board requested a comment on the statistics for ASB in Wednesfield North area which were unexpected. The Neighbourhood Safety Co-ordinator advised the data presented was collected by the police and he was able to share more detailed findings if needed. The Neighbourhood Safety Co-ordinator advised that the policy was not focused on enforcement but also aimed to provide education and support to change behaviour.
The introduction of PSPO would also support the work of the police during the summer months to enforce reasonable behaviour. The Neighbourhood Safety Co-ordinator advised that he had regular meetings with the police to discuss any issues.
The Neighbourhood Safety Co-ordinator added that the PSPO would be reviewed regularly and an application to apply to other areas would be considered, if there was evidence to support this.
Resolved: The Board supported the report recommendations and thanked the Neighbourhood Safety Co-ordinator for his presentation.
1. That the renewal of the Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) drinking restrictions be approved.
2. That the recommendations for a city-wide PSPO, subject to the mandatory six-week legal challenge period allowed, which includes the same proposals as the previous order. To extend prohibitions on public drinking within Park and St Peter’s wards (to include the city centre) be approved.