Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury's homeless may be arrested or fined in anti-social behaviour crackdown

Rough sleepers and nuisance drinkers could be fined or arrested in Shrewsbury should a crackdown on anti-social behaviour go ahead.

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Shropshire Council may consider imposing an order on some areas following calls from residents to clamp down on problems with vomit, smashed windows and street fouling, it has been revealed.

At a meeting of residents, councillors and council officers, a potential solution was discussed that could see a public spaces protection order placed on certain areas of the town. The move would give the authority the ability to criminalise certain activities in designated spaces.

Shropshire councillor Mal Price said he believed the anti-social problems may be mostly down to rough sleepers rather than late-night drinkers.

He said: "I do believe that some of these are more the responsibility of rough sleepers than the night-time economy.

"I am a big lover of The Ark and it is my intention to give them more capacity and more growth to what they do already.

"It is important to note that rough sleepers during winter months were offered accommodation by the council but some chose not to accept it. The idea is to get them all to a position to sustain a tenancy.

"The protection order I want to see in place doesn't mean we are going to use it, and it is not about picking up problems and moving them somewhere else. But I do want to pick them up and have them somewhere they can be effectively dealt with.

"I am not condemning the rough sleepers. I am saying we want to work with them and give them a roof over their heads.

"We have also got to look after Shrewsbury and the people of the town."

Councillor Andrew Bannerman, who represents the Quarry and Coton Hill ward that includes the town centre, said that he supported the idea of the protection order.

He said: "I think that it would be a good idea.

"I think we need to move this forward despite the best efforts of council officers and police already.

"But I do not think all the problems or the majority of them are from rough sleepers.

"There are an awful lot of people coming home after a late night out and it is not just in School Gardens but all over the place and most of these problems are happening late at night.

"If they happened at any other times, we would spot them."

Martin Key, Shropshire Council officer, said it would be a last resort and instead the council would continue to partner police and organisations in the area to work with rough sleepers and nuisance drinkers in the town.

He said: "What we don't want to do is make people who are homeless any more criminal than they may appear to be.

"It a very sensitive and we have to be supportive and helpful and provide a way out.

"We also have to protect the people in the town."

Elsewhere in the country, councils have used the PSPOs to ban activities such as begging or drinking in places.

Local authorities can use the orders to ban activities they believe are having a "detrimental impact" on the quality of life. Anyone who breaches the order could face a £100 fixed penalty fine or prosecution.

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