“PSPO: No Cruising! Carry on Boozing!”

Two Letters to the Editor from Scarborough readers who are less than impressed by Scarborough Borough Council’s latest foray into the world of mindless dictatorship.

It should be pointed out that Councillor Andrew JENKINSON [Con.] – the loveable buffoon pictured at the foot of the page – is no longer the Portfolio Holder for Tourism, that particular honour having passed to Councillor Martin SMITH [Con.] – last year’s man in the pirate outfit (the Mayoral role), where his performance was quite stupefying.

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Dear Team,

I read with interest your article entitled ‘Selective Prohibition’ re: granting a second PSPO to prevent car cruising on the seafront.

Prior to embarking on this debacle, SBC should have corrected the obvious errors in the first PSPO it granted (see attached photograph of the sign on wall next to bus stop at West Square).

The wording is such that it would be an offence to cease the activities the PSPO was designed to prevent e.g. consume alcohol or psychoactive substances . SBC is aware of this blunder however to date they have chosen not to amend the signs! Sound familiar e.g. Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ).

Regards,

Matt

“It is an offence to cease to consume . . . alcohol . . .“

BLIMEY!

Good evening,

I’m writing to you to enquire as to whether you have heard about Scarborough Borough Council proposing a Public Space Protection Order (PPSO) to try and ban “Car Cruising”?

The matter has been in the water works for a couple of months now, but it was an article published recently by “The Scarborough News” that really caught my attention.

According to the article, local Councillors – namely Andrew Jenkinson (Con) and Bill Chatt (Ind) – now find it acceptable to discriminate against members of the public and seem to think they have the right to decide who can and who can not come to Scarborough, with Bill Chatt having been quoted as saying:

“It is time to tell these people they are not welcome here”.

This is hardly the message that the most-visited town outside of London wants to be sending out to the public, is it? Especially when most of the town’s businesses rely on the tourist trade.

The whole article as printed is laughable, not just because of my personal beliefs on the matter – which is a different story – but down to the fact that should a PSPO be implemented, it would be practically impossible to police. (An earlier article in “The Scarborough News” outlined the proposals).

We also have Councillors who are making bold statements without facts or evidence to back them up, with Cllr Andrew Jenkinson claiming that none of the visitors during a car meet spend any money in the town.

I can guarantee that Oasis books would tell a story very different to that quote, as no matter what the weather, when there is a car meet going on, Oasis has a constant queue all night.

Also, if people don’t spend money – as Cllr Andrew Jenkinson claims – how can these very same people leave a mess (as he also claims)?

It appears that the Councillors who make up Scarborough Borough Council have indeed forgotten that they are public servants, not Judge, Jury and Executioner as they seem to have been led to believe as of late.

Kind regards

John

Out-going Tourism Supremo – Councillor Andrew Jenkinson [Con.]