Council plans to tackle car cruising trouble takes next step

Plans to bring a halt to anti-social and criminal behaviour around car cruising in Peterborough have taken another step forward.

Peterborough City Council cabinet members agreed to set up a city wide injunction preventing trouble caused at the events at a meeting yesterday morning.

The injunction has been asked for after residents and businesses hit out at noise and other problems – including broken windows and business skips being used as toilets – that have made lives a misery for a number of years.

There have also been a number of injuries to spectators caused at the cruises.

The city-wide injunction will allow the police and designated council officers to enforce breaches of the order either during or post event. The council will now work over the next 12 –18 months to obtain the injunction and explore all funding options for this.

In the interim period, the council will extend the Woodston Public Space Protection (PSPO) to include Pleasure Fair Meadow car park and other hot spot areas should they be required, and the evidence supports it.

Councillor Steve Allen, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Communication, Culture and Communities, said: “Obtaining a city-wide injunction will send a strong message to anyone thinking of causing anti-social behaviour through car cruising that this will not be tolerated in Peterborough. Similar injunctions have been successfully used in other local authorities and we're confident that it will be effective here.

“Our utmost priority is protecting the general public and whenever we gather complaints from residents about any form of anti-social behaviour, like we have done for car cruising events, then we will work with our partners to take action where possible.”

As well as working to obtain the injunction, the council will also work with Cambridgeshire Constabulary to develop a Community Protection Notice (CPN) scheme, issued to any driver/owner committing anti-social behaviour. 

Opportunities for installing measures such as ANPR cameras and physical barriers will be considered, along with working with private landowners to deter car cruise or anti-social driving. 

The council will also work to use existing CCTV resources as evidence gathering for reporting issues to the police and for enforcement.