Local businesses, property owners and people who use Harrogate town centre are being asked for their views on the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), which is due to expire on 16 August 2017.
Following concerns from business operators and the public about the anti-social behaviour linked to street drinking across the town, Harrogate Borough Council introduced a PSPO for an area in the centre of the town in August 2016. The area includes the interior of the railway station, the bus station, Victoria Shopping Centre, and Victoria and Jubilee Multi Storey Car Parks.
The PSPO enables the council to deal with a type of nuisance in this area which was having a detrimental effect on the quality of life for the local community. The order prohibits certain actions or requires specific things to be done, and was introduced to control the drinking of alcohol within the area.
Putting the PSPO in place for Harrogate town centre has not meant a ban on drinking alcohol across the town centre, but it has given enforcement officers the power to ask a person to stop drinking and ‘surrender’ their alcohol. A refusal to hand over the alcohol is an offence which could result in a fixed penalty notice to a maximum of £100.
The PSPO will have been in place for 12 months in August. Before making a decision on whether to continue or amend the PSPO, the council is seeking the views of people who own property, operate businesses and use Harrogate town centre as to whether introducing the order has made any difference to street drinking within the area, or whether any of the conditions associated with the order should be changed.
Councillor Mike Chambers, Cabinet Member for Housing & Safer Communities for Harrogate Borough Council said:
The Public Spaces Protection Order was implemented with the aim of reducing anti-social behaviour brought about in the main by the drinking of alcohol within the town centre.
The council is now reviewing the effectiveness of the order and is seeking the views of as many partners, residents and businesses as possible by requesting that they participate in the survey.
We are keen to understand the impact that the PSPO has had on the local community and look forward to receiving as many responses as possible.
To view the PSPO survey, and to comment on it, go to the ‘Consultations’ section of the council’s website at www.harrogate.gov.uk/Have-Your-Say and click on the PSPO section, or go directly to .the survey at https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=150002415518
The survey will be available from Wednesday 19 July until Wednesday 2 August 2017.
