Public Space Protection Order agreed to tackle antisocial drinking across Central Bedfordshire

Central Bedfordshire Council has approved the areas covered by their Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for the next three years.

The council’s Executive committee agreed the new PSPO on Tuesday, following a consultation in November 2019, which consulted on the existing order.

The council has agreed the new areas covered by the PSPO across Central Bedfordshire.

The areas covered are:

- Ampthill

- Arlesey –The Blue Lagoon Area

- Barton-le-Clay

- Beeston –The Limes and The Green

- Biggleswade – Church Street and the High Street

- Dunstable – High Street North, High Street South, Court Drive Skate Park, Eleanor’s Cross, Grove Gardens, Priory Gardens, Ashton Square, Newton Recreation Ground, Mentmore Recreation Ground, Dunstable Cemetery, Luton Road Recreation Ground, Bennett Memorial Recreation Ground and Priory Church Yard

- Flitwick

- Houghton Regis –Bedford Square, Tithe Farm Road

- Leighton Buzzard –High Street, Lake Street and the Market Square

- Shefford –High Street, Old Bridge Way

- Sandy –Bedford Road Recreation Ground, Sunderland Road Recreation Ground, Fallow Field Recreation Ground and the Market Square

- Toddington.

Such orders are not complete public drinking bans, but they give authorised officers additional powers in designated areas.

They can request that individuals do not drink alcohol or hand over alcohol in their possession if behaving anti-socially.

PSPOs can be enforced by police officers, police community safety officers or any officer designated by councils. Breaches of a PSPO lead to fines or a fixed penalty notice.

The council has agreed the new areas covered by the PSPO across Central Bedfordshire. The full details will be available on the council’s website with maps showing the specific areas in due course.

Based on results from the public consultation and evidence that stakeholders provided, three of the existing areas have been removed from the PSPO, Kensworth, Hockliffe and Caddington.

Although these three areas will no longer have an order in place, the police will still have existing powers to deal with alcohol related issues in this area, including requesting individuals to not drink and removing any alcohol in an individual’s possession.

Cllr Ian Dalgarno, Executive Member for Community Services said: “Public Space Protection Orders give our officers additional powers to deal with a wide range of anti-social issues, to assist in keeping our communities safe.

“The consultation helped us to determine that we had the right orders in place and in the right locations.

"We know local knowledge is key, so we used the feedback and evidence provided from residents and our partners to ensure that the decisions we made reflected any areas that were of concern.”

Are the orders effective? Let us know what you think about the changes by emailing [email protected].