Council look to extend order tackling car cruising

Wokingham Borough Council first introduced the order in 2022

A local authority has launched a public consultation on its plans to extend a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) to prevent car cruising.

Wokingham Borough Council wants the current order tackling drivers who meet up to race or show off their vehicles to run for three more years.

It said the existing order had been" hugely successful" in reducing reported incidents of car cruising in the borough, with a 41% annual drop in incidents.

The PSPO gives the council, alongside Thames Valley Police, powers to tackle dangerous and anti-social behaviour in relation to the issue.

Lou Timlin, the authority's community safety and public protection lead, said: "We all have a right to live in a safe place and borough - the behaviour of a very few can fail to respect that.

"We've seen here how effective a tool a Public Spaces Protection Order has been, addressing this problem in the last three years," he said.

Wokingham Borough Council said that since 2022, there had been 144 incidents of car cruising reported and 73 fixed penalty notices issued.

It said nobody who had received one of the £100 fines had been caught reoffending.

Thames Valley Business Park in Reading, Carnival Pool Car Park in Wokingham and Mereoak Park and Ride near Three Mile Cross were the "three hotspots" for incidents in the borough, the council added.

Ms Timlin said: "As a council, we saw and we continue to see the weight of feeling and complaints from our residents, whose quality of life is significantly negatively impacted by this issue.

"In that light, instances of this anti-social behaviour cannot be left unchallenged by powers which are potentially available to us."