Campaigners welcome new rules tackling anti-social behaviour in Ilkley
Council officers can now hand out fines up to £100.
Last updated 1st Jun 2021
Campaigners have welcomed new rules which are now in place at Ilkley's riverside, tackling anti-social-behaviour.
A Public Space Protection Order for the area was proposed earlier this year in response to the huge crowds and antisocial behaviour problems that have blighted the town in recent summers.
A council meeting heard how public drinking, drug taking and anti-social behaviour by those visiting the river made locals feel “unsafe” on sunny days.
The new order gives council wardens the power to hand out fines of up to £100 to people who take part in drinking alcohol, taking drugs, including “legal highs”, or “tombstoning” from the bridge into the river.
"It's been absolute carnage"
Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, who represents Ilkley on Bradford District Council, says the issue has been going on for a number of years.
She told us: "It's been absolute carnage on the riverside. Dangerous to the people taking part in it, but for residents walking past or going anywhere, some of them have been quite terrified.
"Enforcement officers that are trying to stop the kids from doing it have been told, 'we'll do what we want, you can't stop us doing it.'"
Cllr Hawkesworth says fixed penalty notices of up to £100 should only be used as a last resort, adding: "When enforcement officers walk along the riverside, it would be a very good thing if they actually had a little bit of rapport with the people there, and asked, 'is there anything we can do to help you? Are you fine?'"
"Soul destroying" for volunteers
The 'Friends of Ilkley Riverside Parks' charity, which works to maintain and improve the area, says the state it's left in regularly is "soul destroying" for volunteers.
Chairman Ed Duguid said: "We're in the park every day of the week. Generally speaking, there are people wandering through the park, litter picking, on a regular basis.
"One of our major driving forces is to make the parks by the rivers in Ilkley parks for everybody to enjoy. It's wrong that some people eventually feel they can't use the parks during this kind of weather.
"it just becomes overwhelming with bins overflowing and whatever. Then you compound that with people behaving badly, and you get people not wanting to go into the park."
At the council meeting to sign of the measures, Committee Chair Coun David Warburton (Lab) said: “It is important we get these things in place to protect the majority of people who are not causing these problems.
“It is always a minority that disrupt things for everybody else, so we have to put in place as many things as we can rhat we are able to do.
“If it carries on, we will have to look at other ways of strengthening that – and it will be under constant review from officers and local councillors.”
The meeting was told the measures would be reviewed every three years at a maximum.