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26
May
BID continues to push for Harrogate public space protection order
A Harrogate business group is continuing to push for a public space protection order in the town amid concerns over anti-social behaviour.
Matthew Chapman, chief executive of Harrogate Business Improvement District, said he believes such an order would help to give police more powers to tackle issues in the town centre.
His comments come after The Stray Ferret reported extensively on the issues facing the Harrogate town centre in our Trading Hell series. We found shop workers routinely facing threats, rampant shoplifting and anti-social behaviour faced by businesses.
Public space protection orders prohibit certain behaviours in a defined area, such as street drinking and anti-social behaviour.
During our Trading Hell articles, our survey found that 92% of town-centre traders supported the introduction of a PSPO.
Mr Chapman said he felt there was more that could be done in the town to help retailers facing such issues.
He said:
We believe that at the moment the police do not have the tools to discourage some of our more challenging activities and that [a PSPO] gives the police a tool to say ‘come on guys, here is a legal document to say you can’t do whatever it might be’.
At the moment, people can sit outside the Halifax bank and drink booze all day and cause problems. If we feel that alcohol is the seed develops more challenges down the line, then the PSPO seems to be the most practical option to challenge that.
Mr Chapman added that there were more “collaborative and preventative” measures that the town, police and council could be doing.
Matthew Chapman, chief executive of Harrogate BID.
He said North Yorkshire Police had designated a retail crime sergeant to the town to help tackle issues in Harrogate, which had been “positive”.
However, Mr Chapman added that the BID was still pushing for a PSPO to help to give police more powers to tackle the problems such as street drinking.
It comes as the Stray Ferret put the calls for a PSPO to Jo Coles, Labour’s deputy mayor for policing in North Yorkshire.
She said any orders imposed across North Yorkshire had to be evidence-led.
However, she added that she would be happy to look at a proposal for Harrogate if it received the support from the town.
She said:
If what you are saying, and I have no reason to doubt it, is that Harrogate really wants this in the centre of Harrogate I’m very happy to look at it.
Anti-social behaviour is a real blight on our communities. It makes peoples’ lives a misery and it causes absolute mayhem for businesses.
Harrogate's history with PSPOs
Harrogate is no stranger to implementing public space protection orders.
In August 2016, the former borough council introduced a PSPO and extended it a year later for another three years. It was tailored to clamp down on street drinking inside the railway and bus stations, Victoria Shopping Centre, and the Victoria and Jubilee multi-storey car-parks.
Enforcement officers had the power to ask people to stop drinking in a public place and ‘surrender’ their alcohol. Refusal to hand it over could result in a fixed penalty notice of up to £100.
But that order expired in 2020 and the pandemic lockdown meant there was no need to renew it, so there hasn’t been one in place for the past four years.
The reintroduction of such an order is supported by the Harrogate BID.
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