Spitting, urinating in the street and begging could all land you with a £1,000 fine in central Middlesbrough as Mayor Andy Preston promises to “punish bad behaviour,” writes Local Democracy Reporter James Cain.

ONE of the main campaign pledges of Middlesbrough’s independent mayor, Andy Preston, was to tackle crime in the town. Last month he revealed his plans for “possibly an extra 40” street wardens equipped with body cams to help achieve that goal.

On Friday, Mr Preston launched his Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) for central Middlesbrough which, he said, would “clamp down” a raft of behaviours with fines for drinking in the street, spitting and begging.

Flanked by business owners, street wardens and a primary school head teacher in Central Square, Mr Preston says: “Middlesbrough is a fantastic place with brilliant things going on, loads of exciting developments – new offices and we’ve got some brilliant shops.

“We’ve got big plans to bring loads of people living back into the centre of town to regenerate it and rejuvenate it and make it really energetic and give it a real buzz.

“But we’ve also got some challenges which make doing some of that difficult. We want to make a really clear stance against that.

“So what we’re going to do is have loads of new street wardens, but in particular we’re going to empower them.”

He adds: “What we’re going to do is go out and talk to the public and we’re going to suggest some new measures, strict and tough codes of behaviour, to make sure the town works really well and becomes all that it can be.

The Northern Echo:

Middlesbrough mayor Andy Preston

“What we want to do is launch a Public Space Protection Order for the whole of TS1 and that will make certain kinds of behaviour clearly unacceptable and punishable with a fine of up to £1,000."

He stresses that the fine is "not about making poor people poorer".

“Our goal is to deter bad behaviour and where necessary, if we have to, we will punish bad behaviour," he says. “But our goal is to deter bad behaviour and encourage good behaviour.”

Holding up a sign that outlines the banned behaviours, Mr Preston says: “We’re going to clamp down on street drinking. We’re going to clamp down on people who spit in the street, the people who litter – we’re not going to tolerate that anymore – even worse, people who pee in the street.

“We’re really sympathetic to homeless people and homelessness and we do a lot as a council and we champion all the charities that deal with that.

“But we don’t tolerate begging by addicts or criminals. We’re going to really clamp down on that.

“Bin searching is a problem. We love recycling, but we hate it when people go into bins looking for something and leave all that rubbish on the street, damaging the look of the street and making the people who live there – decent people – feel awful.

“So we’re going for consultation with the public – I know that loads of people are behind this because we all want to see Middlesbrough become a safer, cleaner, more prosperous place.”

WHY have spitting, begging, and bin searching been identified as particular issues?

“It’s because I’ve talked with the public, especially in TS1 but also in parts of TS3 like North Ormesby, and these are the issues people raise with me," says Mr Preston.

“So all of the things people were raising were put on the list. Just to be clear, this isn’t my list, this is the public’s list.”

But when it comes to begging, won’t imposing a £1,000 fine exacerbate the problem?

“We have a really kind public here and you see someone who looks desperate and you do want to help, we all feel like that.

“A lot of people are tempted to give them a couple of pounds or a fiver even and that feels really generous, but it causes problems.

“There are beds for people in Middlesbrough, there are charities that look after people, we as a council do an awful lot, but there is a cohort of people who are prolific addicts, criminals and beggars.

“They are not necessarily short of a bed – what they are short of is money to buy their drugs.”

But if they are short of money, and that’s what leads them to begging, wouldn’t a £1,000 fine lead them to beg more?

“There have to be consequences,” says Mr Preston.

“The first thing we’ll do is try to deter people. If they won’t be deterred and won’t listen to reason, they get a fine and if they have to be chased through the court, they get a bigger fine.

“That’s the consequence, and if that means they are struggling even more financially, that’s their problem, not the problem of the town."

ADAM HILLIER, of Hillier Jewellers on Linthorpe Road is supporting the mayor’s plan. The business has been hit by theft and anti-social behaviour.

“The fact that we’re going to see more street wardens about is going to be amazing because it’s only a few years ago that I didn’t have these problems," says Mr Hillier, pictured below.

The Northern Echo:

“It’s within the last four to six years that it’s got really bad. If I saw street wardens about more, I would be inclined to put more product in.

“It’s worked in the past so there’s no reason why it won’t work again. It’s something I’ve called for for a number of years.”

When it comes to issues like spitting and urinating in the street, Mr Hillier says: “Some of it is just disgusting behaviour in what is a family area, the town centre. As far as the begging situation goes, it’s a difficult one to combat. It’s not just a case of stopping people begging, it’s about trying to help people.

“But begging, unfortunately, hinders my business. Quite often they will sit right at a window where I’ve got thousands of pounds worth of stock behind.

“You feel bad asking them to move – they might be just trying to get a bit of food. But it is affecting my business. What are you meant to do in that situation?”

Ayresome Primary School headteacher Lisa Biggin, pictured below, says a rise in anti-social behaviour had seen some of her schoolchildren threatened.

She welcomes Mr Preston’s approach, saying: “We’ve had a rise in safeguarding issues over the past three months. "We’ve had an increase in anti-social behaviour at the school gates. We’ve had concerns with individuals threatening our children and pupils.

The Northern Echo:

“We’ve had some mild trespassing which has resulted in us sometimes having to remove children from certain spaces in the area and an increase in drug paraphernalia being thrown over our fence.”

Street wardens Peter Hilton and Bernadette Jones have over 30 years experience between them, and believe the mayor’s plans will make a difference.

The Northern Echo:

Peter says: “Yes, a big difference. It’s there to be used as a tool. If it goes to the extreme the tool is there to issue a fixed penalty notice.

“But it’s more about educating and deterring the people who are committing the offence.”