‘Ban’ on city centre begging will not be a ‘magic bullet’
ABAN on begging in Birmingham city centre is no ‘‘magic bullet’’ that will solve the rough sleeping problem, it has been claimed.
The council last year carried out a consultation on proposals to introduce a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) to the city centre, which could constitute a ban on begging.
Moves to combat anti-social behaviour in the centre would also include a ban on threats or abuse and anti-social street drinking.
The council’s Conservative group has been pushing for the introduction of the PSPO, with deputy leader Cllr Ewan Mackey raising the issue this week.
But Cllr John Cotton (Lab), the cabinet member for Social Inclusion, Community Safety and Equalities, said that more was needed to fix the city’s homelessness issue.
“I would caution Conservative colleagues against the assumption that a PSPO is somehow a magic bullet that resolves a whole series of problems,” he said.
“What we found during the engagement that we did last year was that if you go and talk to the professionals working in the homelessness and rough sleeper sector – I’m talking about organisations like St Basil’s, like Crisis, like Shelter – they were very much of the view that a PSPO is not going to deliver the kind of engagement and support that those individuals need.
“So whilst we need to make sure that we’ve got measures in place that protect people from aggressive begging, from harassments, and we’d look at measures to do that, the idea that a PSPO will suddenly solve a bunch of rough sleeper issues I don’t think is at all the answer.” The debate over the PSPO took place during an item on the council’s new rough sleeping strategy, which is set to go to public consultation later this year. Ahead of that, Cllr Sharon Thompson, Cabinet Member for Homes and Neighbourhoods, encouraged people to donate to ‘alternative giving’ schemes, rather than directly to rough sleepers. “One of the things that came out of Covid-19 was the fact that there weren’t so many people in the city centre and around shopping centres that were there to buy someone a sandwich, give people money and anything else like that,” she said.
“That turning off of that tap meant that many of the rough sleepers that were more reluctant to engage in the past were more willing to engage. We managed to get those people inside to accommodation and off the streets.
“So I don’t think that the PSPO is necessarily the answer, but I do think that we need to do something around the public’s perception of homelessness and why we need to make sure that we signpost people to services and rather than give actual money, give to alternative giving schemes like Change into Action.”