Just to update readers. Following a decision by the cross-party Acocks Green Ward Committee, I attended Wednesday's session of the Public Protection committee to oppose proposals put forward by the police to designate the whole of Acocks Green ward as an area where they have the power to insist that people stop drinking alcohol in the street. The members felt that we would support these proposals on a targeted area where problems had been identified - such as the existing zone Shirley Road by the park, so it is not opposition to the idea, but to the breadth of the proposal.
I can report back that the police report has been deferred, as they failed to meet the standards of evidence required under the Act and their consultation was also not supported by evidence. There's a handy guide to Designated Public Place Orders here. I'd certainly be interested in any other views on this proposal - for or against.
Additionally, there was an interesting report from Trading Standards, who have led the fight against cowboy clampers in the city centre and have been imaginatively using their legal powers to prosecute, securing convictions and prison sentences for offenders and even seizing a ticket machine that was able to accept £2 coins, but would not register them. The officer present read a letter from a young mother, who returned with a young baby and a trolley full of shopping to her car to find it about to be lifted onto a truck just because she had parked with her bumper two inches across a poorly marked white line. It cost £350 for her to get the car back - an amount she had to pay in cash through the fence of a remote yard before they would release her vehicle. The good news is that from the 1st October, it will be illegal to clamp a vehicle on private land.
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