One in five local councils have banned swearing under new “busybody” orders, up from one in 20 councils in 2022.

A new report by the Campaign for Freedom in Everyday Life has found that public spaces protection orders (PSPOs) – originally intended to tackle serious anti-social behaviour – are being used by councils in England and Wales to criminalise a wide range of everyday activities, including standing in groups, shouting and picking up stones.

“Councils have introduced a swathe of bizarre bans that will turn ordinary people into unwitting criminals,” said Josie Appleton, the director of the group. “Councils have used PSPOs – which allow them to ban any activity they judge to have a ‘detrimental effect on the quality of life’ – to introduce over 1,000 new laws, each of which can contain dozens of separate restrictions.

“These orders are not subject to democratic or legal scrutiny: they can be brought through by a single unelected council officer, and do not require public consultation or full council assent.”

The research, based on freedom of information requests submitted to 319 councils, found that 271 (91%) of the 297 councils who responded had at least one PSPO in place, including 13 councils placing restrictions on feeding birds – a measure that led to a woman being arrested in Harrow this year.

PSPO penalties are at an all-time high, with 25,000 fines issued in 2025. “75% of these penalties are issued by private enforcement companies who are paid per fine, and therefore have an incentive to issue as many penalties as possible,” said Appleton.

The fines are due to rise from £100 to £500 when the crime and policing bill finishes its passage through parliament. “The government recently lost three votes in a row in the House of Lords, as peers voted to ban fining for profit for PSPOs. Unfortunately, the government rejected the amendments, but has agreed to make changes to statutory guidance,” Appleton said.

In total, the councils introduced 1,268 new orders, each of which can contain up to 30 individual restrictions.

Guildford borough council has banned “intentionally shouting or screaming”. Picking up rocks is banned in an area of Torbay, and picking up stones, soil, or turf is banned in Richmond upon Thames and Rugby, where foraging for blackberries is also prohibited.

Appleton said: “The research also highlights cases where PSPOs are being used against activities that communities actively welcome.”

In Bury, 17-year-old Charlie Wilson – a Britain’s Got Talent contestant – was handcuffed by police and issued a penalty notice for busking, despite members of the public gathering to watch and enjoy his performance. “Everyone’s enjoying it”, Wilson told officers. “To cheer people up, is that a crime now?”

In Leicester, a political campaigner in her 70s was among eight people told they would be fined in 2025 for flying a flag or campaigning in public without council permission, with activists reporting that obtaining that permission was in effect impossible.

Appleton said: “Many of the orders place enormous discretion in the hands of individual officers, effectively allowing them to decide on the spot whether a member of the public has broken the law. Several councils have criminalised causing ‘annoyance’, a standard so subjective it could apply to almost any behaviour an officer finds disagreeable.”

Gosport prohibits sitting or loitering “in a manner causing or likely to cause harassment, alarm, distress, nuisance or annoyance to any person”.

Lancaster city council bans groups of two or more from allowing “their actions to cause annoyance” to anyone nearby. A spokesperson for the council said its approach was “always proportionate”. “Swearing or shouting are not offences in themselves and action is only taken where behaviour causes annoyance, alarm or distress to others,” they added.