A new report by the Campaign for Freedom in Everyday Life has revealed that one in five local councils in England and Wales have banned swearing under Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs), up from one in 20 in 2022. These orders, originally designed to tackle serious antisocial behaviour, are now being used to criminalise a wide range of everyday activities, including standing in groups, shouting, and picking up stones.
Widespread use of PSPOs
The research, based on freedom of information requests submitted to 319 councils, found that 271 out of 297 responding councils (91%) had at least one PSPO in place. In total, councils introduced 1,268 new orders, each potentially containing up to 30 individual restrictions. For example, Guildford borough council has banned “intentionally shouting or screaming”, while picking up rocks is prohibited in parts of Torbay, and picking stones, soil, or turf is banned in Richmond upon Thames and Rugby, where foraging for blackberries is also forbidden.
Penalties and enforcement
PSPO penalties are at an all-time high, with 25,000 fines issued in 2025. The fines are set to rise from £100 to £500 once the crime and policing bill completes its passage through parliament. Josie Appleton, director of the campaign group, noted that “75% of these penalties are issued by private enforcement companies who are paid per fine, and therefore have an incentive to issue as many penalties as possible.” She added that the government recently lost three votes in the House of Lords, as peers voted to ban fining for profit for PSPOs, but the government rejected the amendments, though it agreed to make changes to statutory guidance.
Controversial applications
The report highlights cases where PSPOs are used against activities that communities welcome. In Bury, 17-year-old Britain’s Got Talent contestant Charlie Wilson was handcuffed and fined for busking, despite a crowd enjoying his performance. In Leicester, a political campaigner in her 70s was among eight people threatened with fines for flying a flag or campaigning without council permission, which activists say is effectively impossible to obtain.
Appleton criticised the broad discretion given to officers, stating that “several councils have criminalised causing ‘annoyance’, a standard so subjective it could apply to almost any behaviour an officer finds disagreeable.” For instance, Gosport prohibits sitting or loitering in a manner causing harassment, alarm, distress, nuisance, or annoyance, while Lancaster city council bans groups of two or more from allowing their actions to cause annoyance. A Lancaster council spokesperson defended the approach as “always proportionate”, adding that swearing or shouting are not offences in themselves unless they cause annoyance, alarm, or distress.
