Homeless people in Dorset towns face fines for sleeping in doorways

Conservative councillors proposing tough crackdown provoke backlash from homelessness charities

The new rules would allow council officers to fine homeless people sleeping in doorways (PA)

Homeless people could be fined for sleeping in doorways, car parks or stairwells in three of Dorset’s biggest towns under proposals drawn up by Conservative councillors.

During discussions on a public space protection order (PSPO) at Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council earlier this week, Tory councillors said the proposed rules were not tough enough.

Council officers had recommended the PSPO only tackle drinking alcohol, taking or dealing drugs, and antisocial behaviour, but the Conservative group argued for also including clauses which prohibited begging, loitering in public, obstructing doorways or stairwells and leaving unattended bedding or bags in public places.

Critics have said the additions would effectively criminalise already poor and vulnerable homeless people in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

Anyone who breaches a PSPO can be fined up to £100. If they do not pay the fine promptly, it can lead to criminal prosecution and penalties up to £1,000.

“We know that people leaving unattended belongings causes anxiety,” Tory councillor Karen Rampton said, The Guardian reported.

“Shopkeepers do not want people obstructing their doorways especially in these times of Covid.”

Five of her fellow Conservatives and one independent backed the suggestion of imposing fines on the homeless, although Ms Rampton insisted during the meeting it was not about targeting any one group but clamping down on antisocial behaviour more generally.

Lib Dem councillor Mille Earl said the idea was “cruel” and “completely counterproductive”, given the homeless people likely to be fined would already be in poverty.

A Labour activist and council candidate in Bournemouth, Corrie Drew, who also works with a homelessness charity, said the proposals were “unfair and illogical”.

“Those who are homeless and rough sleeping are some of the most vulnerable and voiceless among us. The system is stacked against them being able to get housed and rejoin society,” she told The Guardian.

“On any evening there may be between five and 30 homeless people in Bournemouth town centre. Officers could walk through and issue them all with fixed penalty notices that they wouldn’t be able to pay. This would cause huge distress.”

An online petition against the move had gathered 2,600 signatures by Friday afternoon.

The national homelessness charity Crisis has also condemned the plans. “No one should be criminalised because they have no alternative or option but to sleep on our streets, and even more so in a public health crisis,” said the charity’s director of policy and external affairs.

“In a humane society we should not treat people this way. As the Home Office themselves have made clear previously, PSPOs should not be used against people sleeping rough.”

The civil liberties advocacy group Liberty has already begun legal proceedings against a similar PSPO already in force in just one part of the council area, Poole. The group have agreed to pause proceedings in the High Court while the council considers to alter its approach with a PSPO which covers all three towns but is less restrictive.

The plans will now go to the council’s cabinet meeting next month. The leader of BCP Council, Liberdal Democrat councillor Vicki Slade, said the local authority was "committed to reducing rough sleeping by increasing access to suitable accommodation and re-modelling a range of sustainable housing support pathways".

Regardless of the Conservative-led vote from the overview and scrutiny board which called for tougher measures against the homeless, the recommendation from the council officers was to strip out the clauses which would fine people begging or leaving bedding unattended on the streets as the were "not consistent with our priority to ensure we support the most vulnerable people in our communities".

"The report recommends a PSPO across the area that focuses on anti-social behaviours that have been causing distress and alarm to residents, whilst ensuring that the homeless are not targeted."

Although the Tories are by far the largest party with 36 councillors, the council is run by a coalition of most of the other parties and independents, led by the Liberal Democrats.

The political balance is on a knife edge, however, after a string of resignations and deaths left the Unity Alliance coalition running the administration with 37 councillors backing it and 37 opposing it in a vote of no confidence held in June.

Since then, another Lib Dem councillor has died but no by-elections can be held due to the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving the future of the minority administration up in the air.