Rough sleepers could be fined £100 under new rules

Rough sleepers who are having "a detrimental impact on others" could be fined £100 on the spot under new powers drawn up by an Essex council.

New rules covering Braintree town centre and Weavers Park also ban anti-social behaviour, rowdy public drinking and aggressive begging.

Braintree District Council said it could fine or prosecute people who breached the rules under the public spaces protection order (PSPO).

Charley Dervish, the council's Conservative cabinet member for better communities, said it empowered authorities to "take more effective enforcement action".

A PSPO was already in place, but the council carried out a public consultation on how it should be amended. The new restrictions came into effect on Monday, which included:

• Unauthorised tent encampments or other like structures [erected] without consent, [which] have had, or are likely to have, a detrimental effect on the quality of life of people in the locality
• The consumption of alcohol in a manner that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm, distress, nuisance, or annoyance to any person.

Previously, the council's PSPO did not reference tent encampments.

New signage has been installed by the council to reflect the rules.

People who do not comply with them could be handed a fixed penalty notice of £100 or prosecuted.

Dervish said: "It will help us tackle anti-social behaviour associated with street drinking, as well as address issues linked to unauthorised tent encampments."

A council spokesperson also says "housing options" team and CHESS - the local homelessness charity - actively work with individuals to refer them to support services and help find them suitable accommodation.

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