Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Licensing and Regulation presented the report asking Council to approve a revised Public Spaces Protection Order for the City Centre.  He confirmed that the original order was due for review, and thanked scrutiny Members for their thorough consideration in this process.

Councillor Matthew Evans proposed the following amendment to the order:

Referring to Appendix B – Proposed Revised Newport City Centre Public Space Protection Order 2018 – to replace point 5 with:

·         Any person on a street in the restricted area is prohibited from, at any time, placing themselves in a position to beg or solicit money.

Speaking to the amendment, Councillor Matthew Evans put forward that the current ban on aggressive begging was unenforceable, and the proposal to introduce an exclusion zone around cash points would create the same problem.  

In seconding the amendment, Cllr Fouweather supported Cllr Evans’ suggestion that the exclusion zone would be difficult to enforce.

The following points were raised in discussions on the amendment: 

·         that this issue had already been consulted upon and discussed by the scrutiny committee, and the recommendations were supported by the police

·         the low number of responses to the consultation

·         that a blanket ban on begging would criminalise some of the most vulnerable members of society 

·         details of the new diverted giving scheme

Following a vote the amendment was lost.

Discussions on the substantive proposals included the following points:

·         the views expressed against the proposed begging restrictions by agencies consulted as part of the review.

·         the thorough discussions held in scrutiny on these proposals

·         the different reasons people turn to begging

·         the focus of the debate on begging, when a number of measures are covered by the order

·         the need to achieve a proportionate and fair response to these issues

It was 

Resolved

To approve the extended and revised Public Spaces Protection Order for the City Centre, as detailed in Appendix B of the report.