Purpose

To seek approval of making of a Town Centre Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) for a period of three years.

Decision

That a Town Centre Public Spaces Protection Order for a period of three years containing the same restrictions relating to begging and street drinking as the previous Order be approved.

Reasons for the decision

The previous Town Centre Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) expired on 31 August 2026 following its three-year term. The area covered by the previous Town Centre PSPO is shown in Appendix 1. The proposed Order retains the same geographical area. As part of the statutory review process, the Council has reviewed the effectiveness of the controls and considered whether a further PSPO containing the same provisions remains necessary and proportionate. The current PSPO has been in place since 2017, having been reviewed and renewed in 2020 and 2023.

In 2023, as part of the previous review of the Order, a report was provided that explained that enforcement of the PSPO is undertaken by Kent Police, Maidstone Borough Council and One Maidstone in partnership, providing a useful tool to sits alongside a range of other powers, to reduce ASB in the town. 3 years later this still remains the case.

The provisions of the previous PSPO are summarised as follow:

•  Begging – whilst already an offence in law, the provision extends the provision to include loitering, presenting signs, cups/hats or other materials in order to encourage people to give them money.

•  Street Drinking- PSPOs replace alcohol control zones and allows Kent Police to challenge anti-social drinking by either:

•  Removing the alcohol

•  Excluding a person from the area

•  And/or issuing a fixed penalty notice/prosecute

Enforcement of the PSPO

The use of the PSPO varies depending on each of the provisions although both remain effective as a largely preventative tool.

In relation to Begging, the very effective Homeless Support Service provide a proactive service who engage with rough sleepers and beggars to support them into appropriate services and, where eligible, into supported accommodation. The PSPO, in most cases, provides the Homeless Support Service with a degree of leverage to dissuade individuals from begging and to undertake the support being offered. Where necessary, the Community Protection Team will engage with the person and provide further discouragement, before acting if the behaviour persists. In some cases, the begging is found to be being undertaken at professional level. In these cases, further action is considered through either an FPN, Prosecution or through other Community Protection Powers. The effectiveness of the Homeless Support Service and the Community Protection Team is such that enforcement of the begging provision has remained largely informal, in keeping with our Enforcement Policy and Regulatory Codes of Practice. Our work has shown that the Criminal Justice System, including the use of Fixed Penalty Notices on vulnerable people, who often have complex health and financial needs, is less effective and ultimately more expensive than the approach undertaken in Maidstone.

Alcohol Provision is largely enforced by Kent Police, supported by the One Maidstone Ambassadors. As described in 2.3, the PSPO sets out a number of actions available to officers. “Removing the alcohol” and “excluding a person from the area” are by far the most common use of this provision. Unfortunately, due to their informal nature, the use of these techniques is largely unrecorded. Whilst the provision exists to issue an FPN, officers rarely need to use this provision and when they do it is often at a point where other police powers come into effect, such as causing affray, which is an arrestable offence.

Kent Police have increased the number of Beat Officers as part of countywide restructuring to increase Policing presence in town centre areas with Maidstone being one. This initiative has been implemented nationally at the request of Central Government.

Whilst enforcement remains largely informal, not introducing a further PSPO would remove an effective tool for dealing with some of the lower-level issues in the Town Centre by Kent Police, the Community Protection Team and One Maidstone.

There are other offences that could have been included in the PSPO, but the Community Protection Team and partners have a range of other powers in place to challenge unwanted behaviour. As an example, Community Protection powers are already used in Maidstone more extensively than all comparable Local Authorities. One Maidstone Ambassadors are empowered to issue formal warnings, known commonly as CPWs, which are extremely effective, for a range of street level offences. These include, but are not limited to:

•  banning persistent shoplifters from specific stores

•  being in a large group and acting in an anti-social way

•  or wearing articles of clothing, so as to conceal one’s identity.

The Council considers each Public Spaces Protection Order on its own merits, taking account of the statutory tests, available evidence, proportionality and the effectiveness of alternative interventions. Officers are satisfied that these tests are met in relation to the measures proposed within the report. The proposed controls are not intended to create new offences. Rather, they continue long-established arrangements that support the management of anti-social behaviour within the town centre. In particular, the alcohol control provisions replaced former Designated Public Place Orders following the introduction of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 and provide a practical mechanism for officers to address anti-social street drinking. The proposed measures complement existing enforcement powers and operational practice, providing an additional tool where informal intervention alone is not sufficient. Furthermore, the behaviours targeted by the Order are overwhelmingly associated with adults, reducing concerns around the effectiveness of Public Spaces Protection Orders when applied to younger age groups.

Consultation

Prior to public consultation, a review of the existing PSPO was undertaken with key stakeholders, including Kent Police and One Maidstone, who all felt that the existing measures were effective and should continue to support existing processes.

A public consultation was then undertaken between 27 February and 26 April 2026 and received 361 responses. A copy of the report on the consultation can be found in Appendix 2. The consultation shows overwhelming (93.1%) support for the continuation of the existing measures through a further Town Centre PSPO

There were 16 comments made from respondents citing concerns of genuinely homeless individuals being unfairly criminalised in relation to the begging aspect of the PSPO. Street homelessness within Maidstone Town Centre has largely been eradicated, with consistent low or zero street counts being maintained for a number of years. This has been achieved by interventions to support and assist people from becoming entrenched street homeless as outlined in 2.5. The PSPO has always been used as a tool of last resort, when the continued offers of support are rejected and the behaviour of the individual is negatively impacting on local residents and businesses. This is borne out by the low instances of the PSPO being needed to be served. It has evolved into a preventative measure that is particularly useful when tackling ‘professional beggars’ who are not homeless but travel into the Town Centre and harass members of the community going about their daily lives.

It is therefore misleading to characterise the use of PSPO to tackle begging as being an infringement on the most destitute in our community. We continue to provide a rapid response service to those who might find themselves street homeless. There is no reason why persons should need to beg in order to sustain their basic needs due to the services that are available within and operate out of Trinity, which is ideally located within the Town Centre.

In relation to other concerns in the Town Centre, a number of other issues were raised, such as drunken behaviour and large groups of young people. As detailed in 2.9, there are a range of powers available to deal with such matters and the introduction of a Town Centre Task Force in June 2023 has shown how effective partnership can lead to significant improvements across a range of offence types. The following figures are taken from the 2026 Strategic Assessment and updated CSP Plan (Appendix 4) relating to 2025 crime and disorder.

Reported town centre crime 2025 (compared to 2024).

Crimes Against Society

0.6% increase

Violence against the person

14.9% decrease

Anti-social behaviour

13.1% decrease

Theft Shoplifting

10.3% increase

All but one category has seen significant reductions. Increases in neighbourhood crime, those crime specific to the type of neighbourhood, is largely due to increases in thefts and shoplifting. Some of this is due to increased confidence in reporting, with Kent Police and One Maidstone Ambassadors working with businesses to rebuild confidences and securing evidence. Anecdotally we are seeing a lot more thefts of “essential” as opposed to “luxury” items such as food and nappies, which is a national trend linked to the cost-of-living crisis.

It is unrealistic to remove all crime and ASB from a busy Town Centre, but the volume of reported issues with ASB are reducing. A key part of this, is due to the collaborative work multi-agency work undertaken by the TCTF supported by legislation such as the PSPO. There are still those in our community who are responsible for the majority of all the ASB and the work of the Town Centre Task Force is focussed around those individuals who cause the most harm. Improving public perception remains an area of priority for the Town Centre and work is ongoing with MBC’s Communications Team and the team at One Maidstone to challenge the narrative created by social media and local news reporting.

A summary of the consultation results and the proposal to continue the existing controls through a further PSPO have been shared with the Kent Police District Commander, the local Ward Members, the Portfolio Holder, and no concerns have been raised. Throughout the last year we have regularly engaged with Ward Members for the area, through Ward Cluster meetings, which has enabled us to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach and to respond to local concern, as necessary.

Alternative options considered

Option 2: Do Nothing

This was not selected as not renewing the PSPO would remove a useful tool that is readily used to tackle issues associated with anti-social drinking and begging. This would likely lead to an increase in issues and the risk of reputational damage. This would not be aligned with our Corporate Strategy and Safer Maidstone Plan and may be considered a failure of our duty under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to take steps to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour within our Borough. 

Option 3: Implement some of the proposed measures or additional measures

This was not selected as the thorough and detailed process undertaken to date has brought forward the recommendations set out in section 4 of the report as the most appropriate and proportionate measures at this time.  Choosing to implement only one of the recommendations would not reflect the public consultation and the advice provided by Officers and Stakeholders for the Town Centre. In addition, any new measures may need to be consulted on prior to implementation, which would delay implementation of the proposed measures, but as outlined in section 2 of the report, other tools are available to deal with most forms of ASB, where evidence or resources allow.

Option 4: Increase the resourcing levels for the delivery of the PSPO

This was not selected as, as detailed in the report, the enforcement of the PSPO is a largely through partnership work between various MBC Departments, Kent Police and One Maidstone. Members could ask that this is reviewed and for additional resources to be provided for this purpose. However, as part of the current Community Safety Partnership Plan, a Town Centre Task Force was introduced in June 2023, to enable various agencies and partners to work effectively together to reduce ASB and Crime. The results shown in 2.15-2.16 of the report supports this approach and the effectiveness of existing tools, including the current PSPO.