City Council plans concern human rights group

Human rights campaigning organisation Liberty is concerned that Exeter City Council’s proposed Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) will criminalise the city’s most vulnerable people.

A consultation into the Council’s plans closes at midnight on 29 February 2016. Liberty intends to respond to the consultation with a detailed analysis of how the PSPO will potentially lead to unjust, counterproductive and unlawful action being taken against homeless people.

As drafted, the Order bans unsolicited requests for money and gives police and Council officers the right to clear away any bedding found in a street in Exeter’s city centre.

The PSPO gives police and council officers the power to issue on-the-spot penalties of up to £100. If those in breach are unable to pay, they could face prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000.

Liberty believes the Order may, if implemented, breach the rights of the people of Exeter under the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights. The Council is bound by the Act not to behave in a way which would disproportionately affect those rights.

Pressure is building on the Council to abandon its plans. Last week comedian Mark Thomas led a protest against the PSPO outside the civic centre. A petition against the criminalisation of rough sleepers in the city has also amassed over 12,000 signatures.
Unjustified, unwanted and unlawful.

Rosie Brighouse, Legal Officer for Liberty, said: “Begging and rough sleeping are the result of poverty and it is both ridiculous and counterproductive to slap society’s most vulnerable with criminal records and fines they cannot possibly pay.

“The current proposals are unjustified, unwanted and potentially unlawful. We will be making representations to the Council in due course to express our concerns more fully and urge it to protect the rights of the people of Exeter by scrapping these misguided plans.”