Government must adequately resource officers to enforce anti-social behaviour restrictions, say councils
The Local Government Association (LGA) has said that while councils are committed to tackling anti-social behaviour in town centres, it is essential that the government “adequately resources” policing and community safety officers to enforce the restrictions put in place.
The Government’s recently-published Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan and consultation sets out its approach to “stamping out” anti-social behaviour.
The plan has a three-pronged approach aiming to:
- Treat ASB with the urgency it deserves, through implementing hotspot policing areas and immediate justice measures.
- Change laws and systems to take a zero-tolerance approach to ASB, cracking down on illegal drugs and harmful begging.
- Give police and other agencies the tools they need to discourage ASB, increase fines and invest in positive activities.
Amongst other things, the Action Plan sets out a clear expectation that previous anti-social behaviour offenders will be deprioritised for social housing. The Government will also explore "a three-strikes and you are out" expectation of eviction.
Commenting ahead of a Westminster Hall debate yesterday (26 April) on ASB in town centres, the LGA said that although the Government had provided some “much-needed support” to tackle anti-social behaviour through its Safer Streets Fund, it was “keen that the Government should publish the evaluation of these approaches to tackle ASB and safety issues in the public realm, including town centres, as soon as possible”.
According to the LGA, “significant challenges remain”. It said: “There has been little Government funding available for community safety partnerships (CSPs), and local authorities have scarce resources to invest in the range of community safety issues locally, particularly in light of current inflationary pressures.
“Tackling ASB and other issues requires long-term and sustainable funding, at a time that both local government and the police have stretched resources. As a first step, increasing data analytical support to CSPs would help target ASB interventions and allocate resources effectively.”
According to research conducted by Resolve, the most common form of ASB, encountered by those who have experienced it at least once a year, is “groups of young people hanging about on the streets” (59%), followed by “concerns about vandalism, criminal damage and graffiti”.
Other types of ASB cited by respondents as being of concern to them were “people using/dealing drugs, nuisance neighbours, groups hanging about on the streets, begging, vagrancy, problems with homeless people, people being intimidated, threatened, verbally abused or harassed, and fly-tipping”.
The LGA said it would “work closely” with the Government, “given the plan’s commitments to fund more uniformed local authority wardens and to explore funding models with police crime commissioners and councils”.
Councils look forward to seeing more details of how the action plan will work in practice, as well as how the plan will be funded, it added.
Lottie Winson
