A COUNCIL is putting forward plans to clampdown on anti-social behaviour following problems with drinking, begging and other disruptive activities around Weymouth town centre and seafront.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council is looking to introduce Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) in specific areas, and has launched a consultation to give residents the chance to have their say on the matter.

PSPOs are a new measure from the government to give local authorities power to deal with particular problems which are having a detrimental effect on locals in a specific area.

The council is considering introducing these orders in relation to alcohol-related anti-social behaviour and begging-related anti-social behaviour, as well as the feeding of gulls and cycling restrictions.

Designated Public Place Orders (DPPOs), which make it an offence for a person to disobey the request of a police officer to stop drinking or hand over their alcohol in a designated area, is already in place in parts of Weymouth.

In October 2017, all DPPOs in the borough will become PSPOs, which unlike DPPOs will be enforceable with a fixed penalty notice of £100 – though the council wishes to consult the public on potential changes to the content of these orders and the spaces they will relate to.

The council also wishes to introduce PSPOs to try to crackdown on begging in certain areas of the town, to prohibit people feeding seagulls around the harbour and to stop people cycling on the Esplanade at certain times of the year.

The PSPOs could give police the power to issue on-the-spot fines for contravening these bans – though the council said details of the PSPOs have yet to be decided.

Cllr Francis Drake, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s spokesmna for community safety, said the council has been left with no choice but to convert the current DPPOs into PSPOs.

He said: “I think they have got to be transferred into PSPOs. It’s the only way forward. We need to give these things every piece of clout because they are not enforced properly and the new ones will be enforced more strongly with the fixed penalty notice, because it always works when you hit people in their pockets. So fixed penalty notices will be better.”

To tackle alcohol-fuelled anti-social behaviour, the council is planning to convert its current DPPOs in place for Weymouth town centre, the Promenade and Easton Square on Portland to PSPOs, and also expand them to cover Hope Square, Melcombe Avenue, St John’s Church and Grange Road in Weymouth.

The council has emphasised that a PSPO is not a blanket alcohol ban, but it will give authorities more power to control alcohol-related anti-social behaviour.

Certain areas of the borough have suffered repeated alcohol-related disturbance from yobs in recent months and years.

Taxi drivers and traders have complained about the behaviour around Weymouth train station, including fighting and drug-taking, and hoteliers and guest house owners have been up in arms this summer about the horrendous behaviour of youths hanging around the beach huts in front of Brunswick Terrace.

A recent Freedom of Information request also revealed that Weymouth seafront continues to be a hotspot for drink-related disorder, with police called to 201 alcohol-related incidents along the Esplanade in 2015-2016, an increase of 20 on the previous year.

Added to this, Melcombe Regis has the highest number of alcohol related assaults in Dorset and is one of the five worst wards in the county for alcohol-related hospital admissions, according to Public Health.

The consultation, which asks members of the public various questions about each of the four matters the council wishes to introduce PSPOs for, is open now and closes on Wednesday, November 8, 2017.

People can fill in the questionnaire at www.dorsetforyou.gov.uk

  • Ban on feeding seagulls considered

THE feeding of gulls by locals and tourists is considered a persistent problem, with more than 40 Weymouth businesses supporting the ‘Don’t Feed the Locals’ campaign by Litter Free Coast and Sea this year.

To help combat the issue the council is considering a ban on people feeding gulls in Weymouth, including distributing bird feed unless authorised, by bringing into force a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).

The areas in which the PSPO will be enforced include anywhere around the harbour and along the Esplanade.

In the online consultation on PSPOs, residents are asked to state the extent to which the feeding of gulls is a problem in the town.

Cllr Francis Drake, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s spokesman for community safety, said he had personal experience of the menace gulls can be as the owner of Antonio’s café.

He said: “If you ran a coffee shop in the town you would know it is an issue. The gulls are always coming down and taking stuff off the tables.

“You get a lot of trouble with the seagulls and on the beach they get a lot of trouble with them.”

  • PSPO will be 'compromise' on cycling issue

THE issue of cycling along Weymouth seafront has long been a source of tension between cyclists and authorities and now Weymouth and Portland Borough Council is attempting to come to a compromise on the matter by proposing a new Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).

Currently, cycling on the promenade is prohibited at all times of the year, but now the council is considering a major amendment to this by allowing cycling along it at ‘off peak periods’.

This would mean cycling along the promenade between the Pavilion and the start of Preston Beach Road would only be banned between the hours of 10am and 6pm from the start of May to the end of September, enforced by the PSPO.

The council hopes that the online consultation will shed light on what residents and others think of the proposal.

Back in 2009, the council pledged it would take people to court if they were caught cycling on the seafront after increasing complaints from residents.

Yet Cllr Kate Wheller supports the relaxation of the ban and believes that so long as people are considerate, the presence of cyclists on the seafront shouldn’t endanger or disturb pedestrians.

She said: “I think that cyclists on pavements on the promenade need to cycle with care – we have just had a horrendous case in London. The promenade is wide enough for cyclists and pedestrians if people cycle with care.”

She added that people should be encouraged to ride their bikes in the area because it will reduce congestion, is good for the environment and good for people’s health.

But Cllr Colin Huckle, the council’s spokesman for Transport and Infrastructure, is against the plan.

He said: “I think the cyclists, when they do infringe, are quite dangerous to members of the public walking on the promenade.”

  • Helping to tidy up Weymouth

COUNCILLORS believe that introducing a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for begging will help the council to tidy up Weymouth town centre.

The proposed PSPO will ban people from making verbal, non-verbal or written requests for goods, money or donations unless authorised at an appropriate location and it will cover the area of the town centre between the Esplanade and Commercial Road up to Westham Road, as well as Trinity Road.

The council hopes the consultation will give it an idea of how much residents believe begging to be a problem and to what extent they agree with the introduction of a PSPO.

Cllr Drake said: “We are always having complaints about beggars in the main town centre and the council needs to address them.”

He added that begging was causing “untidiness on the streets” and said that it was an obstacle to the council’s aim to clean up Weymouth.

Cllr Wheller also thought it was a good idea to introduce a PSPO for begging, but added that more needs to be done.

She said: “We cannot just say no begging and not deal with the root causes of the begging. We have to deal with the problems that cause people to beg, but it undoubtedly distresses both residents and visitors.”