New PSPO to tackle anti-social behaviour in and around town set for approval

A new public space protection order (PSPO) to help reduce anti-social behaviour and drug taking in Wrexham town centre could soon be introduced.

Executive board members will next week discuss giving the go ahead to the order, which will also cover parts of Rhosddu.

It comes after the two previous PSPOs lapsed during last summer.

The two orders covering Rhosddu and the town centre were piloted for three years in 2016 when issues with anti-social behaviour and drug taking were making both local and national headlines. Images of individuals in the bus station and surrounding areas resulted in some publications branding Wrexham a ‘Zombie’ or ‘Spice’ town* – with negative perceptions of the town that next week’s report acknowledges that some people still have several years on.

The report before councillors states that although the levels of anti-social behaviour have dropped, members of the public “remember the issues from 2016” and that ‘ongoing work is needed to reassure them and re-establish the reputation that Wrexham town centre is safe’.

Over the last 12 months a total of 95 complaints have been received by the community safety, town centre and public protection sections of the council.

These relate to substance misuse and discarded needles, begging, rough sleeping, encampments and general anti-social behaviour.

The below chart shows the the number of anti social behaviour incidents recorded within the PSPO area since 2015. The red line indicates when the PSPO was put in place and the red dots highlight “high signal(s)” which are periods where incidents are higher than the predicted number. The council add, “Although there was a slight peak in May 2019 the incidents appear to have decreased by over 50% from September 2018 onwards.”

Last year Wrexham Council undertook a public consultation asking for feedback on whether a revised PSPO should be introduced in the town.

More than 700 people took part in the process, which asked the public whether they would like to see elements of the previous PSPO continue along with deterring begging.

However the report states that “after considering the evidence submitted as part of the consultation and the findings of the Equality Impact Assessment, the condition in relation to begging has been removed.”

Begging is noted on the below incident location map for 2019. In 2019 seven fixed penalty notices were issued for ‘begging’ and ‘under influence of drugs or alcohol’, with zero paid and six awaiting court action. 2018 saw a spike of 119 FPN’s issued, with just five in 2017. Out of the 119 FPN’s in 2017, just four were paid.

If approved the order will be place across the town centre and Rhosddu for three years.

Although the PSPOs were initially introduced to act as a “deterrent, giving the police and town centre wardens powers to warn people of the consequences of their behaviour”, a more holistic and joined up approach was soon adopted by the council, police, health board and various other agencies.

This resulted in the creation of the ‘Gold’ group in 2017 in a bid to tackle local issues with substance misuse and provide support to service users. It oversaw the ‘NPS Taskforce’, which was created to “consider new and innovative ways of addressing the visible and vulnerable cohort” in the town centre.

The project also saw the “everyone in a room, including users” approach – which saw the likes of North Wales Police, Wrexham Council, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and housing agencies come together under one roof to offer their services to the “visible vulnerable.”

Three years later the scheme is one that has continued to provide support to those in need around the town.

Speaking ahead of next week’s meeting, Cllr Hugh Jones, lead member for communities, partnerships, public protection and community safety, said: “If you take the PSPO away we don’t have an effective means of supporting the visible vulnerable while tackling anti-social behaviour in the town centre.

“The work that we’ve done in Wrexham has been recognised in terms of awards that have been received from the police and crime commissioner.

“Other authorities from across the United Kingdom have come to Wrexham to see the work that we are doing.

“It is an important part of our holistic and comprehensive approach to responding to the issues surrounding the visible vulnerable in the town centre.”

The report will be considered for approval by executive board members at 10am on Tuesday 28th January. The meeting will also be webcast on the Wrexham Council website.

* (We thought we would include the below from last year – as the report discusses a perception survey – we wrote about that earlier this year. The prize remains unclaimed, and it appears the self-branding has not been challenged anywhere else.)

BBC again using the term Spice Town to describe Wrexham. They have it in quote marks, but we can only see BBC stuff as the source of the label. Free Nandos on us to someone who can find a different original source out there! hashtag spice we like (BBC reporters can enter too!) https://t.co/1q2LjZFDBu

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) July 10, 2019