A ban on sleeping in vehicles intended to crack down on antisocial tourism could instead criminalise homelessness, councillors have argued.
Hastings Borough Council is launching a consultation on plans to introduce the ban as it renews its public space protection order – a set of rules banning street drinking and other antisocial behaviours in many of the town’s public spaces.
This proposal has come in for strong criticism from some of the authority’s councillors.
At a meeting of the council’s cabinet on Monday, Hastings Independent councillor Andy Batsford said: “The people we are talking about are at rock bottom.
“They don’t trust anybody, they are probably fleeing domestic violence, they are probably embarrassed that they are having to live in their car, they are working hard everyday probably, still holding down a job and trying to see their kids and living in cars.
“This takes time, investment and what it doesn’t need is to have some sort of trust broken. This threat of a fine or enforcement above you does not build trust.
“It breaks it and means these people will be pushed even further into the shadows and away from help.”
Cabinet member Glenn Haffenden (Green) said: “What this PSPO is intended to do, which is what a lot of the complaints are [about], is for people that are coming [from] outside of the town to stay in the country park and Cinque Ports Way. They are the ones we will be moving on.
“I don’t know why anyone even thinks for a second that we would be turning up to a homeless person’s vehicle and fining them. It is ludicrous to even suggest that would be an option we would be doing.”
In a report to cabinet, officers noted how the council has received numerous complaints about people sleeping in vehicles and caravans in St Helens Road, Cinque Ports Way, Sedlescombe Road North and Napier Road, among other places.
Officers said these caravans had been known to move from one part of town to another following enforcement activity from East Sussex County Council Highways on a particular road. They said the PSPO prohibition could help prevent this.
Officers also stressed how enforcement of the prohibition would be made on a “case-by-case” basis, with the issuing of fines to be “a last resort”. They said anyone found to be sleeping in their vehicles could be signposted to support services, such as the council’s own housing team.
But Hastings Independent councillor John Cannan, who is employed by homelessness charity The Seaview Project, argued many people signposted to support services would not be considered to be priority cases, so would not be eligible for temporary accommodation.
He raised fears this could result in cases where people are ‘escalated’ into receiving fines after being signposted towards support they were unable to utilise.
Cabinet members agreed to move forward with the consultation, stressing that no decision has yet been made on whether to implement the proposal.
Closing the debate, council leader Julia Hilton said: “I think officers have made it clear that actually using this would be an absolute last resort. It is one of the tools in the box, if we decide to go ahead.
“This has come up as a suggestion in response to complaints from councillors and residents across the town.
“None of us would want to see this being used to force someone onto the streets, but we do have people coming and using our carparks and various places to have a cheap holiday, which for a night or two might be alright, but it does cause problems in the summer in a tourist town.”
The consultation will also ask views on extending the areas covered by the existing ban on drinking in public places to Falaise Gardens and the Bowling Green; Linton Gardens; and an area to the east of Queens Road, including the walled cemetery in Wallinger Walk.
These suggested extensions follow a request from Sussex Police. Officers note how the areas have seen some displacement of incidents and issues from enforcement activities in the existing PSPO area.
