The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act went live on 20 October.

This included 'public spaces protection orders', which allow councils to ban any activity which they judge to have a 'detrimental effect' on the 'quality of life' of an area.

A Manifesto Club report found that powers would be used to ban rough sleeping, ball games and 'inappropriate dress'. Here is a three-month review of how councils are using these powers...

Boston Council has announced a ban on street drinking, with signs announcing that 'drinking alcohol or carrying it in any open container in this area is PROHIBITED'.

Yet these announcements misrepresent the powers provided in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. The powers to make 'public spaces protection orders' is extremely broad, but one of the few restrictions is a restriction on a complete ban on alcohol.

The Statutory Guidance accompanying the Act states clearly:

Lincoln city councillors have voted in favour of a ban on 'intoxicating substances'. The policy will go before the council’s executive committee for final ratification on 19 January.

The law is made under new powers contained in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, specifically the 'public spaces protection order' (PSPO) power, which allows local authorities to ban anything which has a 'detrimental effect' on the 'quality of life' of the locality.

A briefing document by the Manifesto Club shows that schools' monitoring of 'racist incidents' has continued and expanded, with a new trend of recording kids' 'prejudice' based on gender, sexuality, 'home circumstances' and special needs.

The briefing document argues that these recording systems intervene in everyday playground interaction, as well as undermining teachers' authority and ability to deal with incidents in a proportionate manner.

A 22-year old has been evicted from her home in Plymouth, as police used the broad new powers of eviction contained within the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act.

The Plymouth Herald reports enthusiastically that new ASB powers mean that somebody can be evicted from their home and asked to leave 'within the hour', if police 'tell the court they reasonably believe that there is, or is likely soon to be, a public nuisance or there is disorder in the vicinity of the premises'.

Colchester Council is planning a 'public spaces protection order' banning car enthusiasts from gathering in a retail park after 6pm.

This comes after gatherings of hundreds of cars, organised by the East Essex Cruisers. Yet significantly, when police visited previous gatherings, they found that people were 'not doing anything much'; they were looking at each other's cars, some revving their engines or playing music on the car radio. The only offence was the sale of burgers from vans without a licence.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act includes a swathe of unprecedentedly open-ended powers, which significantly undermine rights in public spaces.

The Manifesto Club is focusing on 'Public Spaces Protection Orders' (PSPOs), which give local authorities the power to ban any activity they judge to have a 'detrimental effect' on the 'quality of life' of a locality.

We also have grave concerns about many of the other powers - including dispersal orders and Community Protection Notices - which have the potential to be used against buskers, protesters or anybody the police or council officials don't like the look of.

REPORTS AND GUIDES:

I just received this email from an exam invigilator – in response to my Civitas report on vetting - about the frequent requests he receives for criminal records checks. Some of these requests appear to be motivated by DfE guidance that if a volunteer hasn’t been into school for the previous three months, they be asked to carry out a separate check. All of which shows that requests for repeat vetting continue apace – and that the rules underlying these requests remain confusing and illogical.

One of the big questions about the implementation of the new wide-ranging 'public space protection orders' (PSPOs) was how councils will decide to pass them.

PSPOs allow for the council to ban anything which it judges has a 'detrimental effect' on the 'quality of life' of an area. But there are no proceedural requirements about how officials might go about this - so one council might require a PSPO to pass through full council, which would provide a democratic check; while other authority might delegate the law-making power to a single council officer.

This latter possibility is obviously extremely worrying, but extremely likely, given the emphasis in the use of these powers in a 'speedy and flexible manner'.

One of the new powers in the wide-ranging Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act (which came into force on 20 October) is the power to disperse groups or individuals.

These new dispersal powers are more draconian than the old dispersal powers (available section 27 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 and section 30 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003), in the following ways:

- Areas do not have to be designated a dispersal zone in advance; a police inspector can on-the-spot designate any area a dispersal zone;

- The new powers allow for the confiscation of property;

- The new powers allow for somebody to be banned from an area for 48 hrs (rather than 24);