WORCESTER City Council made no use of ASBO-style orders aimed at tackling nuisance behaviour last year, figures reveal.

A council can issue Public Spaces Protection Orders to ban activities it judges have had, or will have, a “detrimental” effect on the quality of life of people in the area. They can also give out Community Protection Notices, which can place legal restrictions on people whose behaviour is deemed to have a similar negative effect on a community.

But Worcester City Council issued no PSPOs in 2019, according to Freedom of Information requests submitted by the campaign group the Manifesto Club, while they also made no use of CPNs in the year to October last year.

Across England and Wales, 8,760 CPNs were issued by 202 councils in the year to October – the highest number recorded by the civil liberties group and up from 6,234 by 192 councils the previous year.

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And local authorities gave out 10,413 PSPOs in 2019, up from 9,930 a year earlier.

The group said CPNs have been used to ban begging, sitting on pavements, and to order people to tidy up messy gardens, while the reasons for fines for breaching PSPOs included shouting or swearing, loitering, charity collecting, and standing in groups.

Director of the Manifesto Club Josie Appleton said the test for what constitutes detrimental behaviour was “unprecedentedly low” for criminal intervention, and that the powers were hard to appeal.

She added: “These blank-cheque busybody powers are the cause of immense injustice, and a fundamental threat to our freedoms. They should be removed from the statute book.”

The use of the powers was very unevenly spread between areas – while Nottingham City Council issued the most CPNS of those that provided figures (1,464), Worcester City Council was among more than 80 saying they hadn’t used them at all.

And while Peterborough City Council dispensed the most fines recorded for breaking PSPOs (3,772), almost 150 said they made no use of the order.

The powers were introduced by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

The Local Government Association defended their use as “one of a number of ways councils can tackle persistent anti-social behaviour problems raised by local communities”.

Nesil Caliskan, chairman of the LGA’s safer and stronger communities board, said: “PSPOs and CPNs will not be suitable or effective in all circumstances, and councils will consider other approaches which may better resolve the anti-social behaviour identified.

“As with other council services, PSPOs are subject to scrutiny by democratically elected councillors, and councils must consult with community representatives under the legislation, along with the police before implementing them.”