1,000 signatures reached
To: South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council
Treat homeless people with respect and dignity
Stop Public Space Protection Orders which means a homeless person could be given warning letters of fixed penalty notices.
Why is this important?
Public Space Protection Orders allow for broad powers to criminalise behaviour that is not normally criminal.
This means in theory homeless people could be fined £100 for accepting food from kind-hearted strangers. This could demonise people who are often unwell, maybe have mental health issues or have just fallen on hard times. This is no way to treat the most vulnerable in our town.
PSPOs are geographically defined, making predefined activities within a mapped area prosecutable. People can literally be fined for being in the wrong place. Under PSPOs homeless people could be targeted if they enter an exclusion zone, which covers a large part of the town.
I am saddened and disappointed that the great town of South Shields has recently started enforcing Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO).
This campaign is based on this information from the council's website:
https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/article/35174/Public-Spaces-Protection-Orders
If you have anything that suggests that the council are no longer able to fine people for begging then we'd love to hear more from you, drop us an email at [email protected]
https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/article/35174/Public-Spaces-Protection-Orders
This means in theory homeless people could be fined £100 for accepting food from kind-hearted strangers. This could demonise people who are often unwell, maybe have mental health issues or have just fallen on hard times. This is no way to treat the most vulnerable in our town.
PSPOs are geographically defined, making predefined activities within a mapped area prosecutable. People can literally be fined for being in the wrong place. Under PSPOs homeless people could be targeted if they enter an exclusion zone, which covers a large part of the town.
I am saddened and disappointed that the great town of South Shields has recently started enforcing Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO).
This campaign is based on this information from the council's website:
https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/article/35174/Public-Spaces-Protection-Orders
If you have anything that suggests that the council are no longer able to fine people for begging then we'd love to hear more from you, drop us an email at [email protected]
https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/article/35174/Public-Spaces-Protection-Orders
