		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="111265417"
		 data-section="1">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><p>Homeless people could be &#8220;criminalised&#8221; and &#8220;penalised&#8221; as UK councils attempt to crack down on begging, it has been claimed.</p>
<p>Introduced in 2014, Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO) let local authorities tackle anti-social behaviour they deem to be &#8220;detrimental to the local community&#8217;s quality of life&#8221;.</p>
<p>Under a PSPO introduced by South Tyneside Council, a £100 fine can be handed to those deemed to be begging &#8211; prompting fears the homeless could be &#8220;penalised&#8221; for accepting a donation.</p>
<p>Father Christopher Fuller of St Hilda&#8217;s Church in South Shields said he understood the orders were being <i>&#8220;introduced by lots of local authorities across the country&#8221;.</i></p>
<p>He said: <i>&#8220;My concern is that people who are vulnerable, but also people who are good-willed &#8230; they see someone sitting on the street and have a pang of conscience and want to get them a tea, coffee or sandwich.</p>
<p>&#8220;They buy them something and innocently give it to them, without the vulnerable person necessarily saying anything &#8211; they could potentially get fined £100.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>There are a number of PSPOs in place across the borough of South Tyneside that it is claimed target both alcohol consumption and begging.</p>
<p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/image133.jpg"><img src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/image133.jpg" alt="Statue in London" width="600" height="325" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-76242" /></a></p>
<p>Notices of their imposition were put up in the areas where the orders applied, but South Tyneside Council said these have since been removed.</p>
<p>The orders forbid <i>&#8220;verbal, non-verbal or written requests, including the placing of hats or containers for money, donations or goods&#8221;.</i></p>
<p>Father Fuller said: <i>&#8220;The problem is if these individuals begging on the streets get fined £100, where is this money going to come from? They certainly won&#8217;t have it themselves.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>He agreed there was a need to stop people drinking on the streets and causing anti-social behaviour, but said: <i>&#8220;Someone just sitting quietly wanting money isn&#8217;t that big an issue.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>Councillor Allan West, lead member for housing and transport, said no fines had been issued for begging and that tackling homelessness was a &#8220;core priority&#8221;.</p>
<p>He said: <i>&#8220;These orders are in no way aimed at people in genuine hardship. However, we understand that the posters may have been open to misinterpretation.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have taken on-board people&#8217;s concerns and these posters are no longer in circulation.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>Josie Appleton, director of the Manifesto Club think tank, said the homeless were the &#8220;main victims&#8221; of PSPOs, which she said allows councils to &#8220;criminalise&#8221; behaviour they believe detrimentally affects life quality.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;It is a very subjective category in which people take to mean anything they don&#8217;t like or because they think something looks messy,&#8221;</i> she said.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;Homeless people are not being treated as citizens. They are having a complete stripping of any kind of respect or rights to be in a space.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>She said although there had been lots of orders &#8211; with a variety of &#8220;innocuous&#8221; activities banned around the UK under PSPOs &#8211; the group that had suffered the most was the homeless.</p>
<p>Newcastle Council has been consulting on banning begging and Sunderland City Council has considered banning &#8220;bin-raking&#8221; &#8211; the action of searching and taking of unwanted items from bins.</p>
<p>Southampton City Council have PSPOs in place that prohibit &#8220;loitering for the purpose of begging&#8221; or <i>&#8220;begging or asking members of the public for money&#8221;</i> in designated areas.</p>
<p>And Rushcliffe Borough Council has approved a PSPO aimed at tackling anti-social behaviours associated with <i>&#8220;with street-drinking and rough sleeping&#8221;.</i></p>
<p>The council said they were taking a &#8220;proactive approach&#8221; to homelessness and that issuing a £100 fixed penalty notice was a &#8220;last resort&#8221;.</p>
<p>Rosie Brighouse, legal officer for the Liberty human rights organisation, said the orders were <i>&#8220;increasingly being used to criminalise the very people authorities should be helping&#8221;.</i></p>
<p>She said: <i>&#8220;These orders are blunt instruments, incapable of addressing the many complex issues that may lead people to beg or sleep rough.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>Calling PSPOs against the homeless <i>&#8220;absurd&#8221;,</i> she said: <i>&#8220;As Christmas approaches and temperatures drop, councils considering using these powers should turn their focus to helping, not penalising, the homeless.&#8221;</i></p>
			<div style="padding-bottom:15px;" class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost">
				<div id="atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68cd1e489abae">
					<script type="text/javascript">
						window.getAdSnippetCallback = function () {
							if ( false === ( window.isWatlV1 ?? false ) ) {
								// Use Aditude scripts.
								window.tudeMappings = window.tudeMappings || [];
								window.tudeMappings.push( {
									divId: 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68cd1e489abae',
									format: 'belowpost',
								} );
							}
						}

						if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) {
							document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', window.getAdSnippetCallback );
						} else {
							window.getAdSnippetCallback();
						}
					</script>
				</div>
			</div>
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
