We are working with Cleveland Police to tackle issues relating aggressive begging in the borough.
Alongside our colleagues from Cleveland police are intending to:
- make regular visits during the next four weeks to engage with regular beggars, town centre visitors, and businesses, particularly within Redcar town centre, to raise awareness of the order’s provisions. The offences added to the new and revised signs installed during the last three weeks or so concern.
- [urinating and/or defecating without reasonable excuse for doing so within a designated alcohol control area, offences introduced October 2020; but now included on the new and revised signs]
- placing themselves in a position to beg or solicit money in a manner which is aggressive or intimidating, or which is likely to cause a member of the public to feel harassed, alarmed or distressed (new offence introduced December 2022)
- alone or part of a group, making any aggressive verbal, non-verbal or written requests for goods, money or donations (new offence introduced December 2022)
- Once the engagement stage to raise awareness has been completed, the council’s community enforcement team (and Cleveland police) will then transition to carrying out targeted enforcement activities, This will involve them in investigating reported breaches of the order; and to issue fixed penalty notices for breaches of the order they find.
- Community enforcement and police officers will be taking an empathetic approach to vulnerable people they encounter, alerting early intervention services including the council’s housing options team, and signposting them to support services available