A council has been accused of “punishing poverty” with the renewal of its town centre rules around begging and public drinking.

Maidstone Borough Council has set wheels in motion to renew its Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) on Maidstone’s town centre - which allows people drinking in public or begging to be slapped with a fine.

Councillors backing the move insist that it’s aimed only at “professional beggars” and a local homeless charity thinks the scheme works.

But a civil rights organisation argues the bid is “punishing poverty-related behaviours.”

The PSPO was first introduced in the town centre in 2017 and was renewed in 2020.

Cabinet member for housing and health, Cllr Lottie Parfitt-Reid (Con), attended a meeting of the crime and disorder committee to make the case for renewing the rules.

She said: “The purpose of the PSPO is to stop the antisocial behaviour associated with begging and alcohol consumption, not to create offences.

“As far as begging is concerned we must recognise that these behaviours are often undertaken by the most vulnerable in society, so there is often a need for support and this remains our first priority.

“For professional beggars, it is to act as a deterrent.”

At the meeting, a council officer emphasised that the use of the PSPO to fine people is a last resort.

“We’ve not had to issue a fine in the past three years in relation to the begging element and I think that speaks volumes about the approach that’s taken by officers – it’s there in the back pocket if it’s needed if somebody is being very belligerent,” the officer told members.

The council officer detailed how in regards to public drinking, the area around Macdonald’s and KFC on Week Street, Jubilee Square and Canon Square are “areas of concern.”

They said: “Through dogged determination, frequent visits, high visibility patrols, seizure of alcohol and the provisions that are laid out within the stages of the alcohol provision specifically, we have significantly reduced the antisocial behaviour in those locations over the last year.

“It’s not an absolute prohibition on people drinking in public spaces which a lot of people think it is.”

Before the meeting, the civil rights campaigning organisation Liberty wrote to the council to oppose the move.

The group has opposed PSPOs since they were introduced in 2014, and thinks councils’ power to create them should be scrapped.

In the letter, the group said: ”We are concerned about the potential misuse of PSPOs, especially those that punish poverty-related behaviours such as begging.

“We are disappointed that no evidence has been published on the council’s website to support the renewal of the PSPO, particularly the provisions that seek to criminalise behaviours associated with poverty.”

They also suggested in their letter that: “If the council goes ahead with renewing this PSPO without sufficient evidence, then it will be unlawful and vulnerable to challenge in the High Court.”

However, the council’s officers are confident that the rules are legally sound, having been in place for years and checked over by council lawyers.

The council ran a public consultation on the order, which found more than 90% backing the rules on antisocial public drinking, and more than eight in 10 supporting the ban on persistent begging.

Des Long, the chairman of Maidstone Homeless Care - which has been supporting the homeless in Maidstone for over 35 years - doesn’t think the rules are being used to target rough sleepers.

“In the past five years, Maidstone Borough Council has achieved major success in reducing the number of rough sleepers we have in the community by introducing a strategy of prevention of homelessness throughout their services,” Mr Long told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

“The PSPO would have been a very small part of that strategy as the key element has been identifying people who are threatened with homelessness and those who become homeless, at the earliest opportunity and offering them temporary accommodation whilst assessing their overall needs.

“The PSPO is a small cog in a very effective wheel reducing the number of rough sleepers in Maidstone.”

MBC’s cabinet will make the final decision in the coming weeks.

If approved it will be renewed as of September 1st.