I was sceptical, but going out on patrol with the anti-social behaviour team was eye-opener - for right reasons!

N recent years, I've started avoiding shopping in Leicester city centre as much as possible. If I wasn't dodging e-bikes and dropped litter, I found myself getting annoyed at the endless parade of charities, activists, religious groups and protesters vying to be the loudest in an effort to cram their views or plight down my throat.

- Our reporter Hannah Richardson

For me, it just wasn't a pleasant place to be, and, with Fosse Park a similar distance away from where I live, I felt could have a much more relaxed shopping experience there for no extra effort.

Then, when Leicester City Council announced its new crackdown on anti-social behaviour in the city centre, I looked through the list - excessive noise, street drinking, begging and anti-social use of bikes or scooters and found myself nodding in agreement at each of the activities they proposed to ban.

I was, however, sceptical that anything would really change.

But when I met up with the team enforcing the new public space protection order, I felt like I was walking into a very different Leicester city centre to the one I knew.

It was quiet, clean and, instead of feeling completely claustrophobic, I noticed, perhaps for the first time, how much space there actually is in some areas of the city centre.

The fact it was mid-afternoon on a Thursday, so there were naturally fewer people about, may have had something to do with this, but I actually felt relaxed as I walked through the streets.

NO HITCHES OR DRAMAS

Among the issues the team are targeting are street drinking, begging, loudspeakers and unauthorised stalls.

Charity and commercial collections are also banned, save for organisations with express written permission from the council, as are riding bikes, scooters and skateboards in an anti-social way.