Victory

In March 2016, Cheshire West and Chester Council scrapped plans to introduce Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) for Chester aimed at criminalizing homeless people on the streets, after sustained opposition. The council received 1,800 responses to its public consultation last year, and "found no overall support for the measures", the victory was also the result of protests in Chester involving around 150 people, and this petition of nearly 3,000 signatures. Cheshire West and Chester Council unsurprisingly tried to spin the defeat of its own draconian proposals to criminalize homelessness as showing, “As a council that listens to our residents, we greatly value this feedback and I am pleased that the final proposals reflect the views expressed", but ignore such weak PR twaddle, this is now 11/12 wins against Local Authorities and PSPOs, anti-homelessness spikes, and of course billionaire investor absentee landlord, Westbrook Partners socially cleansing the New Era Estate in East London. Such punitive measures seeking to criminalize homelessness without doing anything to help prevent or end it, were defeated by *opposition and resistance* forcing the council's hand and leading it to scrap seven separate elements of proposed PSPOs in the city: direct action gets the goods.