Legal order to minimise anti-social behaviour in Bromborough renewed
A legal order to minimise the prospect of significant anti-social behaviour returning to a busy part of Wirral is now in place and being enforced.
The industrial, retail and residential areas around Riverview Road in Bromborough had been the subject of a three-year Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) that expired earlier this year.
That order was introduced after complaints of anti-social behaviour involving large numbers of motor vehicles, including cars and motorbikes, together with large numbers of spectators gathering and holding races along public highways in the area. As well as causing nuisance and potential dangers, the activity also resulted in damage to the highway and street furniture.
The order had been largely successful in addressing those complaints and reducing the number of incidents. However, as the order was coming to an end, similar complaints of anti-social behaviour were starting to increase which is why community safety partners, including Wirral Council and Merseyside Police, with the support of businesses and residents in the area, sought to renew it.
A period of public consultation on the proposals ended recently, with nearly 75% of respondents in support of continued use of PSPO powers in this area, which incorporates public roads bounded between 41 New Chester Road from Old Hall Road to Old Court House Road to the River Mersey, this also includes private derelict industrial land.
It also covers public car parks on the Croft Retail Park, Bromborough and an ASDA supermarket along with multiple shopping and leisure venues including restaurants, gyms and a large multiplex cinema. There is a map of the area covered by the PSPO on the consultation web pages.
A PSPO is a provision created by the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014. It is intended to deal with particular nuisances or problems in a defined area that are considered to be detrimental to the local community’s quality of life.
It can do this by imposing conditions on the use of that area which will apply to everyone so that the majority of people can enjoy the public space. The Council has the power to implement PSPOs with the purpose of stopping individuals or groups committing anti-social behaviour in public spaces.
It will be an offence to, without reasonable excuse, do anything that the person is prohibited from doing by a Public Spaces Protection Order. A person guilty of such an offence is liable to a fine on prosecution (currently a maximum of £1,000). Authorised officers can issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (£100) if appropriate.
