The Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for West Ealing comes in to force today 3rd April. After a 6-week consultation some 90% of respondees favoured the idea of a PSPO for West Ealing. The PSPO gives the police and Council officers increased powers to tackle anti-social behaviour such as street drinking, urinating in public, fly tipping, drug use and more.
During the first week, the Council will clean up fly tips, check alcohol licence compliance and make sure all local businesses know about the PSPO. At last week’s Walpole Ward Forum the local police stressed the role and value of the PSPO in helping them tackle anti-social behaviour and reminded residents that reporting problems to the police is vital. For urgent issues call 999 and non-urgent call 101.
To make the PSPO work effectively we as residents need to play our part by reporting problems to the police and Council. As well as the two police numbers above, the Council’s website has an online page for problems such as flytipping, graffiti and abandoned vehicles. It takes a bit of getting used to but I’ve reported a lot of flytips this way and they do get cleared pretty quickly so it’s worth the time and effort to report problems.
Let’s hope that together we can make the PSPO a success and really start to reduce the problems caused by anti-social behaviour in West Ealing. For its part, West Ealing Neighbours will be in regular contact with the police and Council to find out how the PSPO is working and what impact it is having and we’ll report back on what progress is being made.