Drug addicts and beggars could be fined in crackdown
BEGGARS and drug-users could be fined £100 under proposals aimed at cracking down on antisocial behaviour and drug-taking in the city centre.
The town hall is considering new ‘public space protection orders’ covering four specific areas – Piccadilly Gardens, Chinatown, Piccadilly and the Smithfield estate in the Northern Quarter – that would see anyone breaching them hit with instant penalties.
Council chiefs have not decided whether to go ahead with the orders or what exact behaviour they might cover, but it is understood they would be likely to target ‘persistent,’ repeated and aggressive begging, as well as people openly taking drugs such as heroin and spice.
Such orders can result in penalties ranging from warnings to onthe-spot fines, although failure to pay can also lead to a court appearance and ultimately imprisonment.
Town hall insiders insisted the move would not be aimed at moving on people just for sleeping rough or being homeless.
However other local authorities that have used such measures to target beggars have been branded inhumane by campaigners, while Manchester Liberal Democrats have accused the council of an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach that ‘criminalises vulnerable people.’
PSPOs can be used by councils to tackle a vast array of different anti-social behaviour issues in a specific area, depending on the situation. In Manchester they have already been used to limit the number of dogs anyone can take into a park at one time.
The latest proposal has emerged over the last six months, it is understood, partly in response to rising complaints from city centre residents and businesses.
One of the areas that could be covered, the Smithfield estate in the Northern Quarter, has seen concerns raised by residents about people taking heroin in their gardens and communal areas.
Piccadilly councillor Sam Wheeler said PSPOs could be one way of tackling serious drug-taking in the area, including getting people into rehabilitation programmes. “There’s currently a large amount of dealing on that estate and it’s where people take their drugs – heroin, rather than spice – because it’s quiet and out of the way,” he said. “Speaking to the residents, it’s not aggression that’s the problem, more just the constant having people slumped in their gardens, public areas and all the needles. “Currently there’s no mechanism to move them on and they’re generally not begging, so unless the police caught them in the few minutes between buying and using, there’s not much they can do.” Aside from Smithfield, it is understood that in other areas of the city centre – particularly Piccadilly – the orders could focus on repeated begging, as well as open drug-taking. Manchester’s deputy council leader Nigel Murphy said no decision had yet been taken on whether to consult on any orders, or what any restrictions could theoretically cover. Anyone wishing to help Manchester’s homeless people can find out more at streetsupport.net/ manchester.