The regions first street harassment ban given the green light in Ashfield

Following a six-week public consultation, Ashfield District Council is renewing its local byelaw referred to as a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) from 1 October 2024.

In total 372 residents responded to the consultation with 96% of people supporting the new order to allow the Council to take additional action for anyone harassing women and girls in the street. This move will strengthen the Council and Community Safety Partnership’s commitment to addressing Violence Against Women and Girls in Ashfield.

The current PSPO covers all town centres and parks in the District and allows the Council to enforce against anti-social and nuisance behaviour, as well as offences relating to dogs. The previous PSPO first came into force in 2021 and has helped see a massive 35% reduction in anti-social behaviour (ASB) across the District, between January 2021 and December 2023.

The new PSPO has been varied to also include a District wide ban on vehicle nuisance, which includes street racing, car cruising, playing load music to cause a nuisance, performing stunts, and riding unlicensed power vehicles. 96% of people surveyed supported the introduction of this restriction across the District.

An overwhelming majority of those who responded to the consultation were in favour of the order, with all 12 of the proposed restrictions receiving at least 87% of responses in support.

The order includes restrictions on:

• Alcohol consumption in a designated area
• Urinating/defecating within a designated area
• Dog fouling in specified areas
• Failing to produce device or other means of removing dog faeces on demand
• Failing to put dogs on lead by direction
• Walking more than the specified number of dogs at one time
• Dogs in specified areas such as enclosed children’s play areas and sports areas
• Dogs not being on leads in specified areas such as town centres
• Failing to comply with a Direction to Move on
• Access to land between Bentinck Street and Welbeck Street
• Vehicle nuisance
• Street harassment

New signage is set to be installed across Ashfield outlining the restrictions once the Order comes into force on 1 October which can result in a £1000 fine and conviction for those failing to comply.

Cllr John Wilmott, Executive Lead Member for Community Safety and Crime Reduction, said

“It is fantastic to see how much support the proposed PSPO received. We always listen to the opinions and thoughts of our residents, so we are pleased that they see the value of the PSPO. The current PSPO has been an incredibly effective tool to help us combat anti-social behaviour across our town centres.

“We have listened to resident’s views and comments and we are acting on them. One of the things that residents told us was that they wanted to see increased patrols by uniformed officers, both the police and Council’s Community Protection Officers, so we want to reassure residents that we work extremely closely with the police and will continue to do so to ensure our town centres and parks are safe for everyone.”