Leader – Linden’s law: the blanket ban that left Hackney residents cold
While the newborn Conservative government has been busy unpicking the human rights legislation that guarantees the civility of our democracy, it seems Hackney Council has been acting out a similar move on the local stage.
The Town Hall has embraced measures introduced by the Coalition government (which created 1,073 new criminal offences, adding to the 4,300 new crimes piled up under the previous Labour administration), that allow councils to crack down on any activity in defined public spaces that they believe “is likely to have a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality”.
In Hackney, a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), was issued covering large swathes of the borough, allowing the police and council officers to demand that people desist from ‘anti-social activities’ such as begging, sleeping rough in doorways or drinking alcohol in the street. Violating the order could have led to fines up to £1,000 and potentially, a criminal record.
From the moment the Hackney Citizen broke the news, charities, campaign groups and local residents condemned the introduction of the PSPO, particularly the inclusion of ‘rough sleeping’ as an anti-social activity. After over 80,000 people signed a Change.org petition against the “criminalisation of rough sleepers” the Council has relented and has amended the order. But the damage has been done.
The council’s thinking seemed to have been that because rough sleepers are more likely than other groups to commit anti-social offences, the characteristic that unites this group – living and socialising on the streets – should be used to target them all collectively.
The measure raises questions about the underlying beliefs of leading Cabinet members. Leading the charge on this act of legislative kettling is none other than Deputy Mayor Sophie Linden, who was working as an adviser to former Home Secretary David Blunkett when he brought in the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003. As for the council as a whole, the PSPO suggested a ‘not in my backyard’ attitude towards destitution.
Despite the Deputy Mayor Linden’s reassurances to the contrary, the PSPO would have criminalised rough sleepers. This may not have be the council’s intention but that is what would have happened.
As Connor Johnston, barrister at Garden Court Chambers and Hackney resident wrote for The Justice Gap: “Rendering a person liable to prosecution and conviction for an act which would not otherwise be a criminal offence, however well intentioned, can only be described as criminalisation”.
Also, despite removing the most overtly awful part of the order, they have still retained powers to fine homeless people for several victimless crimes such as begging and drinking.
There is a protest about this next Monday (15th) outside the Town Hall from 4.30pm onwards and some are planning to sleep the night there. Please show your support!
Please read the Public Space Protection Order new wording, because it gives Council Officers discretionary powers to decide what is “anti-social behaviour”. No law need be broken for a council officer to decide that a person, homeless or not, is behaving anti-socially. The PSPO is an attack on freedom of association and freedom of speech. Do not believe the claim that Sophie Linden has backed down in the face of a petition. Hackney Council has just used the elastic concept of “ASB” to give themselves draconian powers. Protest this on Monday 15 June. Reclaim Hackney!
hey Billy – Since when has the “begging” tactics used by the people targeted by this PSPO been victimless? Tell that to my elderly neighbours who now wont walk out to Mare St because of the aggression used? or the guy who has bailed up the young mum with her kids in the bus shelter? Or tell the people in shore road, who have to clean up after the street drinkers who take a shit in the street, there are no victims. And what happens if you ask them to refrain from pissing against your front gate or stop screaming at each other at 1am outside the kids bedroom – often some tirade about how they are going to come back and smash your windows in, and then your head.
I do not support the council rolling back civil liberties to target these people – but to say there are no victims from their behaviour is incorrect.
The Hackney Council Public Space Protection Order is an attack on freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in public. The PSPO gives Council Officers the discretion to clear away and punish anyone they consider anti-social regardless of any law being broken. The PSPO will never stop homelessness, or drinking, or neighbourhood disputes, or rudeness, and is not meant to. It will turn Council Officers into a Social Police Force, who will stretch their remit to force conformity and passivity on the population of Hackney. It is the establishment of political policing at a mundane level. It will be used during the clearances of council estates, as Jules Pipe teams up with developers. The PSPO is the formation of Pipe’s Political Police.
Sophie Linden should stop intimidating the public with the Hackney Public Space Protection Order. Jules Pipe’s council backed down at the last minute today, faced with a camp of protesters outside the Town Hall. The council will not rest though and the PSPO will be back as an attack on Freedom of Assembly and Free Speech. Well done to all who turned out, and the fantastic band! More effort needed for 22 June 2015.
http://news.hackney.gov.uk/hackney-withdraws-its-public-space-protection-order/