CONTROVERSIAL restrictions on buskers and beggars in Oxford will be examined by a committee tonight.

Oxford City Council has put forward the new public spaces protection order (PSPO) as a way of cracking down on what it describes as “intimidating” behaviour.

This could include beggars who wait near cash machines, according to the order.

The council’s environmental protection service manager, Richard Adams, told a special panel of councillors last night: “This is a preventative tool and is not intended for punishment.

“There is research that directly connects begging not with food and shelter, but with substance misuse.

“The council can use the carrot and the stick to nudge those people towards services that they should be using.”

But an earlier version of the order was criticised earlier this year by homeless support groups and the civil rights group Liberty, which said it was unlawful on a number of human rights and common law grounds and threatened legal action.

The council delayed a decision on the proposals and has since changed them to restrict ‘aggressive begging’, rather than ‘persistent begging’. It has also removed a reference to the city council’s buskers’ code of practice – which requires performers to “smile”.

But Liberal Democrat councillor Andrew Gant said: “Busking should be removed, because sufficient powers already exist to tackle anti-social behaviour.”

The city council scrutiny committee will meet at 6.15pm in Oxford Town Hall.