What’s new: Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has approved tougher anti-social behaviour rules covering 211 parks and open spaces across the borough.
By the numbers: The consultation received 98 responses, with 83 per cent supporting renewal of the order. Breaches can result in a £100 fixed penalty notice.
What’s next: The revised public space protection order will come into force when the existing order expires in November.
This article is based on reporting from the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), a BBC funded initiative set up to strengthen reporting on local democratic issues. The Staffordshire Signal has taken part in the scheme since September 2026, which means we're able to draw on a selection of LDRS stories alongside our own.
New rules are being introduced in parks as part of a council crackdown on anti-social behaviour.
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has expanded the public space protection order covering parks and open spaces to ban behaviours seen as having a ‘detrimental effect’ on quality of life.
The existing PSPO, which has been in force since 2023, includes various dog control measures, such as a requirement to keep dogs on leads in certain areas, and a ban on having open alcohol containers in parks.
Following a public consultation, the council has added further restrictions to the order, which covers 211 parks and open spaces, to address concerns raised by residents.
They include a ban on riding off-road motorbikes or similar vehicles ‘without lawful authority’, and a prohibition on lighting fires or barbecues without written permission.
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The maximum number of dogs any individual is allowed to bring into seven formal parks has been reduced from six to four.
The revised order also includes a ban on being ‘verbally abusive’, and empowers council officers to disperse groups of three or more people.
Breaching a PSPO is a criminal offence, punishable by a £100 fixed penalty notice.
A total of 98 people responded to a public consultation on the PSPO, with 83 per cent supporting the order’s renewal.
Respondents raised concerns over issues such as fires and the use of motorbikes in parks.
The revised order will come into force next month, after being approved by members of the council’s public protection committee.
Neighbourhood delivery manager Michelle Hopper told the committee that the PSPO had been an important tool for tackling anti-social behaviour in parks.
She said: “The outcome of the public consultation provides very strong endorsement for the continued use of these powers. Support was particularly strong for the continued dog control measures. Importantly, the consultation highlighted that many of the issues that originally justified the introduction of the order, remain very much prevalent today.
“Respondents raised concerns relating to dog fouling, irresponsible dog ownership, alcohol-related anti-social behaviour, rough sleeping encampments, nuisance behaviour and off-road motorbikes.”
Committee members backed the renewed and expanded PSPO, but some raised concerns over how the rules would be enforced, and cited a lack of response from the police.
Councillor Scott Stevenson said: “We’ve got all these pages of this, that and the other saying you’re not supposed to do this, you can’t do that, but is anyone actually enforcing it? For a whole week there were motorbikes on Birchenwood Country Park, in broad daylight, the same time every night for two hours. The residents are absolutely sick of it.”
Ms Hopper said it is difficult to tackle off-road bikers due to their mobility, but suggested that residents could help by reporting where the bikes are kept.
The revised order will come into force once the existing PSPO expires in November.
Written by Phil Corrigan, Local Democracy Reporter.
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