Update on PSPO Petition

Below is copy of the acknowledgement of receipt of our Petition for PSPO from Gosport Borough Council and as soon as we have the promised substantive response we will publish an update here.

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Dear Sir or Madam

Petition for a PSPO in respect of Hardway Memorial Green

Thank you for your letter of 28th August 2017 received through Councillor Mrs Furlong, enclosing a petition requesting that the council adopt a public spaces protection order (PSPO), in response to reported anti-social behaviour (ASB) at Hardway Memorial Green (Hardway).

As stated in your letter the statutory test for adopting a PSPO is two-fold. The Council has to be satisfied on reasonable grounds that there has been persistent ASB in Hardway and that the restrictions proposed in the PSPO are proportionate to the harm.

I have requested that colleagues in community safety and the police provide details of reported ASB in Hardway over the past 12 months, which I will review. In the event that there appears to be evidence to suggest that there has been persistent ASB in the locality, I will have regard to the existing enforcement framework and assess whether a PSPO is necessary to address the harm caused by the ASB.

I hope to be in a position to provide you with my substantive response to the petition by the end of September 2017. If it transpires that this timescale is not going to be achievable I will of course let you know,

Yours faithfully

Michael Lawther

Borough Solicitor Gosport BC

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