Anti- social behaviour order set to be approved for beauty spots

EXTRA POWERS to crack down on almost anything that could be perceived as anti- social behaviour look set to be approved, amid fears beauty spots could be hit again by a wave of disorder as had happened last summer.

Richmondshire District Council looks set to ratify a Public Spaces Protection Order with loosely defined conditions for the Batts and Falls areas of Richmond to enable officials to stop crowds of young people intimidating and abusing residents, visitors and businesses.

If approved, anyone deemed to have contravened the order by a police or council officer faces a fixed penalty notice of £ 100.

A report to the authority’s Corporate Board proposes the order should ban anything “likely to cause harassment, obstruction or concern for safety to another person in a public place” and using foul or abusive language, although it does not define what language would not be permitted.

The proposed order would also ban people from continuing to consume alcohol when required to stop doing so by any authorised officer, being under the influence of drugs, throwing objects which could cause nuisance, lighting fires or barbecues and the irresponsible depositing of waste.

The move follows crowds of young people, many reportedly from the North East, acting anti- socially at the beauty spots last summer, leading the council to staff the area with marshalls alongside extra police as well as install closed circuit cameras.

A public consultation over the proposed order, which would last three years, saw at least 90 per cent of respondents agree that foul and abusive language, drug use and littering be included in the list of prohibitions from the area.

However, some of the proposed measures were less popular, with 19 per cent of the 570 respondents not supporting a ban on the consumption of alcohol or the lighting of fires and barbecues at the waterfalls.

Ahead of the meeting, Coun Helen Grant, chair of the Richmondshire Community Safety Partnership, said the order had been designed to provide a means of controlling several anti- social activities.

Richmond councillor Stuart Parsons said: “Where in previous years there had been some misbehaviour, last summer saw an incredible amount of it.

“By including all of these elements it means interventions are possible, where last summer they were not.

“It made everybody’s life very difficult because nobody could understand why people were not intervening when in fact there was nothing in place to enable them to do so.”

He said there may be an upsurge in people wanting to “go wild” again this summer.

Nobody could understand why people were not intervening. Richmond councillor Stuart Parsons.