Milton Keynes City Council has emphasised its commitment to cracking down on anti-social car cruisers by extending a city-wide Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for another three years.
The PSPO was initially introduced in 2019 to prevent drivers from using Milton Keynes’ extensive dual carriageway network as a hub for noisy and illegal street races, and to deter drivers from causing nuisance at organised car meets in Central Milton Keynes.
Although the PSPO has been launched by Milton Keynes City Council, it can only be enforced by Thames Valley Police who hold the powers to issue fixed penalty notices* to those who breach the order.
Under the extended PSPO, police officers can tackle various vehicle related anti-social behaviours including:
Driving vehicles at excessive speed, sudden acceleration, car racing and performing stunts in a manner likely to cause nuisance
Disturbing residents by sounding horns, playing amplified music, revving engines and popping exhausts in a manner likely to cause nuisance
Councillor Jenny Wilson-Marklew, Labour Progressive Alliance Cabinet Member for Community Safety, will take a decision tonight to extend the PSPO:
“Car cruising, street racing and deafening exhausts can be a real burden on families who live near to the grid roads. Aside from this, anti-social car cruisers can put themselves, other drivers and pedestrians in real danger by driving at ridiculously high speeds.
“Extending this PSPO will form part of a wider toolkit that officers can use to police car meets, and it can be used alongside stronger measures to deter anti-social car cruisers. The City Council takes a zero-tolerance approach when it comes to anti-social car cruisers, so I hope this sends a strong message to those who decide to use our city as a racing ground.”
The car park at Network Rail’s The Quadrant is a hot spot for car meets, which attract hundreds of car cruisers each month. Organised events such as these result in street races, with certain estates in the city being more affected than others. Households near Standing Way, such as those in Tattenhoe and Emerson Valley, have raised their concerns, alongside those that back onto the H3, H6 and A509.
However, Central Milton Keynes remains the main hotspot for anti-social car cruisers. CMK Ward Councillor Ben Nolan (Labour) welcomes the news of the PSPO extension:
“The frequent car meets held in CMK can lead to illegal street races which have a devastating impact on other drivers and people living nearby. Residents have told me about sleepless nights because of these races, which isn’t right or fair. So I call on the police to use the powers from the PSPO extension to crackdown and show that there is no place for anti-social car cruisers in our city.”