Consultation on renewing and extending powers to tackle ASB

Your views are being sought on the renewal and expansion of powers to tackle anti-social behaviour in Darlington.

A Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) was first introduced in the town centre in March 2019 to provide additional tools for police and council enforcement officers to deal with a range of issues across the town centre.

A report to Darlington Borough Council’s Cabinet on Tuesday (4 March) asked members to give the go ahead for a public consultation on the renewal of the town centre PSPO and a new borough wide PSPO.

The consultation focuses on the town centre PSPO which proposes to retain powers to deal with anti-social behaviour associated with alcohol consumption, threatening behaviour and begging in the town centre and introduce further powers to assist with the nuisance caused by feeding birds and the anti-social use of scooters, bicycles and skateboards. The area covered is also proposed to be extended to cover Victoria Road up to the railway station.

We are also consulting on the introduction of a new borough wide PSPO to give powers that will assist with begging that has been displaced from the town centre to other parts of the borough, the increase in stray dog issues and the ongoing issue of side waste across the borough.

Councillor Jim Garner, cabinet member for stronger communities, said: “Used proportionately and only in the right circumstances, PSPOs can enable local areas to try and counter unreasonable and persistent behaviour that affects the quality of life of residents, visitors and businesses.

“We will always try and engage with people to encourage responsible behaviour before considering issuing Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN). These will only generally be considered when other means of addressing behaviour have not been successful.

“The issues included in the consultation are those that we have evidence are causing negative impacts on the town centre and the borough, so we’ve given the go ahead for these proposals to go to consultation and we want to hear your views before any final decision is made so do let us know what you think.”

The six weeks consultation is now open and will run until Wednesday 16 April. More information about the PSPO, the proposed changes and how you can give your comments can be found at www.darlington.gov.uk/consultations or you can share your views by contacting the Civic Enforcement team on 01325 406999.

The proposals will also go before the Communities and Local Services Scrutiny Committee, and cabinet will then consider the next steps and the outcome of the consultation in June 2025.

Did you know you can now sign up for our consultation notification service, to receive a weekly email with details of all the new consultations that have been added to the website? Find out more at My Darlington.

Anti-social behaviour can be reported to the police on 101 or you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or visit www.darlington.gov.uk/asb to report it online to the council.