Horsham Parkour Ban | BBC South Today Excerpt

• Report rights infringement
• published: 15 Sep 2016
• views: 2015

Excerpt from "BBC South Today", dated 14/09/2016, discussing the recent ban for Parkour in Horsham, due to alleged criminal damage to the local businesses there, which was linked by the shop keepers to the parkour practitioners there. All rights belong to the BBC, this is uploaded here purely for informational and archive purposes. Original Source URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07tbnbh/south-today-evening-news-14092016 BBC Today Facebook discussion: https://www.facebook.com/BBCSouthToday/videos/1129982310425691/ ------------------- *** Personal take: *** Horsham concil has now criminalised parkour in the town center, with those caught getting fined via a PSPO order. This does not affect Oxford in any way and Parkour UK are working hard to reverse the ban. Full story is on iPlayer, but will soon be taken down at 2pm today - I have made a backup (sorry, beeb and pardon the out of sync audio - link: https://youtu.be/_AEduq89BBk) Just to point out the wider facts here, the Horsham practitioners strongly deny that the damage caused was their doing. They also claim that the rooftops in question have frequented by drunks and such like since before parkour was practised there. The claims that the shop keepers are making, while believable, are also unsubstantiated. ---------------- I hope this story brings to light why I am so, so careful when training in public spaces. - I greet and smile at every passer by, having a chat with them if they want to - I call out every bike coming, even when I know we all saw them - I try to spread us out, if we are crowding a walkway and make passers by feel uncomfortable - If someone asks us to move on or not use a particular space, I discuss, then oblige - I then do not to return there for a few weeks or months, to let them cool off and forget about it. As some of you may or may not be aware, like Horsham, Oxford town centre is covered by a PSPO - a recent development, somewhat controversial scheme to help councils criminalise and combat otherwise non-criminal acts which they deem a nuisance. Because of the culture we have in Oxford, parkour is not deemed a nuisance in our town - we are free to train in any public space we want. What most here would deem a simple human right is slowly turning into a privilege. I do not know what Horsham's wider community is like (apparently it is quite small), but I do know it's Storror country, and their carefree attitude towards trespass makes them and parkour an incredibly easy target to blame any form of anti-social behaviour on. I am saddened that this has happened, but am also not surprised. This ban has been rushed through, with only a single public discussion, which few practitioners were able to attend - huge kudos to those that did. This also sets a precedent, which may encourage other councils to consider similar bans in other areas. So please - to all practitioners out there, consider where you train, how you behave and how you may look to non-practitioners. As a greater, national and global community, we all stick together. That means we all benefit from our individual acts together and we all suffer from our actions together.

Horsham Parkour Ban | BBC South Today Excerpt

• Report rights infringement
• published: 15 Sep 2016
• views: 2015

Excerpt from "BBC South Today", dated 14/09/2016, discussing the recent ban for Parkour in Horsham, due to alleged criminal damage to the local businesses there, which was linked by the shop keepers to the parkour practitioners there. All rights belong to the BBC, this is uploaded here purely for informational and archive purposes. Original Source URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07tbnbh/south-today-evening-news-14092016 BBC Today Facebook discussion: https://www.facebook.com/BBCSouthToday/videos/1129982310425691/ ------------------- *** Personal take: *** Horsham concil has now criminalised parkour in the town center, with those caught getting fined via a PSPO order. This does not affect Oxford in any way and Parkour UK are working hard to reverse the ban. Full story is on iPlayer, but will soon be taken down at 2pm today - I have made a backup (sorry, beeb and pardon the out of sync audio - link: https://youtu.be/_AEduq89BBk) Just to point out the wider facts here, the Horsham practitioners strongly deny that the damage caused was their doing. They also claim that the rooftops in question have frequented by drunks and such like since before parkour was practised there. The claims that the shop keepers are making, while believable, are also unsubstantiated. ---------------- I hope this story brings to light why I am so, so careful when training in public spaces. - I greet and smile at every passer by, having a chat with them if they want to - I call out every bike coming, even when I know we all saw them - I try to spread us out, if we are crowding a walkway and make passers by feel uncomfortable - If someone asks us to move on or not use a particular space, I discuss, then oblige - I then do not to return there for a few weeks or months, to let them cool off and forget about it. As some of you may or may not be aware, like Horsham, Oxford town centre is covered by a PSPO - a recent development, somewhat controversial scheme to help councils criminalise and combat otherwise non-criminal acts which they deem a nuisance. Because of the culture we have in Oxford, parkour is not deemed a nuisance in our town - we are free to train in any public space we want. What most here would deem a simple human right is slowly turning into a privilege. I do not know what Horsham's wider community is like (apparently it is quite small), but I do know it's Storror country, and their carefree attitude towards trespass makes them and parkour an incredibly easy target to blame any form of anti-social behaviour on. I am saddened that this has happened, but am also not surprised. This ban has been rushed through, with only a single public discussion, which few practitioners were able to attend - huge kudos to those that did. This also sets a precedent, which may encourage other councils to consider similar bans in other areas. So please - to all practitioners out there, consider where you train, how you behave and how you may look to non-practitioners. As a greater, national and global community, we all stick together. That means we all benefit from our individual acts together and we all suffer from our actions together.