Police ordered 20 people to leave the Magnolia Centre and the Strand in Exmouth last week under anti-social behaviour powers.

An East Devon District Council 'Public Spaces Protection Order', which is part of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, allows police or council officers to ban people from certain areas of Exmouth for 24 hours.

One person whom police had ordered to leave reportedly returned too soon, and so was arrested.

A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesperson said: "Over the course of last week Exmouth Neighbourhood Policing Team officers issued 20 dispersal orders to persons in the Magnolia Shopping Centre and Strand in Exmouth.

"The orders issued as Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) disperse the offender from a defined area shown on a map, that is handed to the offender, for a period of 24 hours.

"If that person should return before the expiry of those 24 hours they are liable to arrest. One such person did and was subsequently arrested."

Public Spaces Protection Orders also ban dogs from beaches over certain periods, urinating or defecating in public, aggressive requests for money, require people to surrender "intoxicating substances" and more. The current fixed penalty notice for a breach of a PSPO is £100.

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