People in Kirklees could soon be fined for feeding birds
The ban would apply in local town centres - in a bid to curb nuisance wild birds
Last updated 25th Nov 2024
Feeding birds could soon be an offence in Kirklees’ town centres as tough new measures are considered by the council.
This follows an in-depth review of the borough’s Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs), with officers proposing a number of changes. The orders give local authorities a wide range of flexible powers to crackdown on anti-social behaviour and detrimental activities in certain areas, and a breach can lead to a fine or even prosecution.
Kirklees currently has nine PSPOs in place dealing with: dog fouling; the control of fires and barbecues; control of fireworks, sky lanterns and balloon; means of picking up after your dog; dogs on lead on request, dogs to be on leads at all times; dog exclusion areas; public urination and defecation; and street drinking.
The plan is to amend some of the existing PSPOs and create some new ones to tackle “emerging” issues, with an update brought to this week’s meeting of the council’s Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Panel. This means that the PSPOs around dogs will be brought together as one, and the order addressing street drinking strengthened, making it easier to enforce.
A new PSPO is set to be introduced to prevent bird feeding in the centre of Batley, Dewsbury, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Marsden, Ravensthorpe and Slaithwaite. At the meeting, Councillor Will Simpson (Labour, Denby Dale), wanted to make it clear that the council did not have an “anti-bird agenda” but the measures were there to address issues with vermin being attracted to an area as a result of the food.
On top of this, a borough-wide PSPO is proposed to tackle problems around nuisance vehicles, with anti-social behaviour around this, particularly motorbike use, said to be an emerging issue. Also described as an emerging issue, exacerbated by the housing crisis, was loitering, nuisance behaviour and temporary structures like tents or gazebos being put up without permission, with a PSPO designed to address these problems in town centres.
Several members of the panel raised concerns that a lot of the PSPOs would impact homeless or vulnerable people but council officers explained that the council is working with its rough sleeping initiative and various charities and that enforcement is only used as a “last resort”.
Councillor Simpson said: “I think it’s important for us to re-emphasise that this isn’t that the council’s going to go out and start being really horrible to homeless people, it’s about having the power there that can be used in the right situations if we deem that’s the most appropriate thing to use after all of these support mechanisms have also been taken there and explored.”
Chair of the Panel, Cllr Andrew Cooper (Greens, Newsome) commented: “I do get it. I understand the point that’s being made. I know that there are people in tents in Huddersfield who’ve got flats and I know there are people who travel here and then put a tent up and I’m sure there will be some people who are homeless who’ve got tents as well, so a tent does not equal homelessness.”
A council officer said: “I know that it’s been the focus of the discussion this morning but I can 100% guarantee that this piece of work is not targeted at rough sleepers. It’s just that some of the measures that we are introducing can be used to target rough sleepers but that isn’t the intention, because all the work that we do around rough sleeping and everything else is more supportive.”
Before any of the new PSPOs are brought in, a decision will need to be made by Cabinet.