I want law and order, but not by stealth

Your article ‘Royal Borough: public spaces protection measures extended’ accurately related the discussion at cabinet on March 27.

However, it failed to remark upon another example of what is becoming a worrying trend.

These two Public Space Protection orders (there are four in total) were introduced by full council on April 27, 2021.

The report that recommended their adoption was a thorough 25-page document, full to the brim with evidence to support the officer’s conclusion.

Forty of the 41 councillors attended.

There was a vigorous hour-long debate during which 11 of them spoke.

The pros and cons were thoroughly dissected and at the conclusion there was a named vote.

The tally was 36 for, 1 against (me) and 3 abstentions.

Contrast that with their renewal (for another three years) by cabinet.

There was a nine-page report, short on facts and long on opinion followed by a oneway discussion that lasted less than ten minutes.

Even that meagre duration included contributions from two members of the public and a non-voting councillor.

Only two voting members said anything, and it was passed on the nod.

Bad as that is for openness, transparency, and accountability it is nothing compared to the method by which the other two PSPOs were adopted.

Cabinet delegated that decision to one officer and one councillor!

Now let’s be clear. I want dog owners and cyclists to act responsibly.

I would prefer the users of our public spaces to be sober and I believe it is reckless to have an unsupervised barbecue in a park.

However, I also believe that if we are going to give unnamed agents of the council the power to issue a fixed penalty notice then we should discuss that in the open and record who said what and how everyone voted.

If we continue down this path of ever more regulation by stealth then we may as well not bother with councillors and instead let the officers run the show unsupervised with a nameless and shameless cabinet to act as their rubber stamp, which is very much what this feels like.