Sleeping out overnight anywhere in Cheltenham would need council consent under a renewed PSPO that also targets aggressive begging. Comments close 19 October.

Cheltenham Borough Council wants to make it an offence to camp or sleep overnight anywhere in the borough without its permission. It is one of three new rules the council proposes to add to the town’s Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) when the order is renewed.

Anyone can comment until Monday 19 October. The consultation opened on 7 September and runs for six weeks, according to the council’s consultation page.

The current order came into force on 9 November 2023 and expires in November 2026. The council proposes to renew it for a further three years.

What would stay the same

The two sets of rules in the 2023 order would be kept:

  • the alcohol rule: nobody may refuse to stop drinking, or refuse to hand over alcohol, when a police officer or an authorised person asks them to, to prevent nuisance or disorder
  • the dog controls: picking up after your dog, putting a dog on a lead in listed streets and parks or when asked, a limit of four dogs per person on council land, and keeping dogs out of playgrounds, games areas and bowling greens

What would be new

All three proposed rules would apply across the whole borough, not only the town centre. The council has published the wording of each:

  • Public urination and defecation: “A person commits an offence if at any time they urinate and/or defecate without reasonable excuse for doing so” anywhere in the borough.
  • Loitering and aggressive begging: it would be prohibited to loiter or beg aggressively “in a manner that causes, or is likely to cause harassment, alarm distress, nuisance or annoyance to any person”. An authorised person could require someone to leave the area.
  • Camping and sleeping out: “No person shall camp or sleep overnight, with or without a tent, or use a vehicle, caravan or any other structure for such purpose anywhere in the borough of Cheltenham without the express prior consent of the Council.”
Table comparing Cheltenham's 2023 PSPO with the proposed renewal: the alcohol and dog rules are kept, and bans on urinating or defecating, loitering or aggressive begging, and camping or sleeping out overnight are added across the whole borough
The proposed renewal keeps the existing rules and adds three borough-wide ones. Graphic by The Cheltenham Journal.
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Why the council says it is needed

A PSPO can only be made if the council has reasonable grounds to believe three tests are met, under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. The behaviour must harm local people’s quality of life. It must be persistent. And the restrictions must be reasonable.

The council has published a four-page supporting evidence document to make that case. It is built from business reports and complaint records. It gives no counts of complaints, incidents or encampments.

It names these places where it says tents or encampments have recurred:

  • the Honeybourne Line
  • Imperial Gardens
  • Montpellier Gardens
  • Pittville Park
  • Sandford Gardens
  • outside Cavendish House in the town centre
  • Hatherley Court Gardens
  • Winston Churchill Gardens

The document links street drinking to the areas around Clarence Fountain and Boots Corner. Retailers reported people begging in shop entrances, abuse of staff, and customers staying away. One encampment in the town centre took weeks to resolve, the council says. It also says several encampments involved people subject to criminal justice orders.

Councillor Jamie Jamieson, the cabinet member for safety and communities, said in the council’s announcement: “We want to ensure these measures remain effective, proportionate and reflect the views of our communities.”

What the consultation does not say

  • There is no draft order. The page gives the wording of the three new rules, but not the full renewed order or a map. The only document attached is the evidence paper.
  • The begging rule’s area is unclear. It says the ban applies anywhere in the borough, then refers to a “Restricted Area” that the page does not define.
  • Penalties are not mentioned. Under the current order a breach can bring a fixed penalty notice of up to £100. The consultation does not say whether that would change.
  • It does not explain consent. The overnight rule allows sleeping out with the council’s prior consent, but the page does not say how anyone would ask for it.

What it means for you

  • To have your say, fill in the online form before 19 October. The council has not published a date for its decision.
  • If you run a town centre business, most of the evidence comes from business reports. This is the point to add your own experience, whichever way it points.
  • If you sleep in a van, campervan or caravan, the overnight rule as worded covers vehicles and caravans anywhere in the borough, not only in parks.
  • If you walk a dog, nothing in the proposals changes the current dog rules.
  • If you are worried about someone sleeping rough, you can alert local outreach services through StreetLink.

More Cheltenham local information: parking in Cheltenham, bin collection days, council tax bands, planning news.

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