Public Spaces Protection Orders in place at Meadowbank Park and both Dorking and Leatherhead town centres are due to expire in October 2026.  Ahead of this, there is an opportunity to help inform whether they should be extended or amended if they are to continue for up to a further three years.

Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) are introduced to address a particular nuisance or problem in a specific area that is detrimental to the local community’s quality of life. It does so by imposing conditions or restrictions to help prevent anti-social behaviour from continuing to occur in that area.

PSPOs provide Mole Valley District Council (MVDC) and Surrey Police with additional powers to address anti-social behaviour. If one or more individuals are found to be in breach of conditions outlined in a PSPO relating to that specific area, enforcement measures such as issuing a Fixed Penalty Notice or pursuing a formal prosecution can be used.

In place since 2017 and renewed twice previously, the existing Dorking and Leatherhead town centre PSPOs regulate the consumption of alcohol in those respective locations.  The Meadowbank Park’s PSPO has regulated the consumption of alcohol, use of intoxicating substances, dog fouling and restricting dog access to the park’s playground over the past six years.

PSPOs are not automatically extended, so the opinions of residents, businesses and visitors to the district are vital in helping to inform whether they continue or what they could look like in the future. Visit www.molevalley.gov.uk/pspo between Friday 5 June and Friday 10 July 2026 to complete one, two or all three of the individual area-specific online surveys. Paper copies of all three surveys will be available from the reception at MVDC’s Pippbrook office in Dorking during the consultation period too.

Councillor Caroline Joseph, MVDC’s Cabinet Member for Services and Security, said: “It is important we hear from people who wish to tell us of any personal experiences or firsthand accounts of anti-social behaviour over the past three years in the three specific locations being consulted on. It is only by building a clear picture of the effectiveness of the existing PSPOs can we make an informed decision about extending one or more of them and, if so, whether the anti-social behaviours they currently cover should be retained, added to or removed.”