Agenda item

The Community Safety Officer presented a report on anti social behaviour in Newcastle Borough.  She reported that she had spoken to the Committee at the last meeting and therefore intended to give a status report on the work undertaken since that time.  The Council had adopted a zero tolerance multi-agency approach to anti social behaviour with a focus on victims.  The Council hoped to resolve any anti social behaviour issues through early intervention and prevention measures for offenders whilst recognising that in some circumstances enforcement measures had to be taken.

The Community Safety Officer stated that recently a service level agreement had been implemented between Staffordshire Young Peoples Service and Newcastle Borough Council.  The agreement provided a framework for the Council working in partnership with the service to resolve anti social behaviour caused by younger people in and around youth clubs.  There had been discussions with supported housing scheme providers and landlords about entering into Service Level Agreements to help resolve complaints.  The Building Resilient Families and Communities initiative aimed to give support to the families of individuals who were being monitored by the Council and the Police.   The Newcastle Community Safety Partnership had referred over 100 families. 

The Community Safety Officer informed the Committee about the work taking place on the CRM.  This would improve the Customer Services approach to dealing with calls at the first point of contact.  Complainants would receive a risk assessment which would help to identify vulnerability and therefore the priority of the case.  The Let’s Work Together training, which had been successful earlier in the year, would be presented again to other services.  She was pleased to report that the Partnership Team dealing with anti social behaviour had met with the Local Support Teams from Families First to discus optimising the service.  

The Community Safety Action Officer described a number of current local anti social behaviour projects as listed in the report.  She also informed the Committee of new legislation that would require some of the policies and procedures to be implemented.   There intended to be an official launch of the new Anti Social Behaviour Policy and she was pleased to inform Members about the Neighbourhood Resolution Panels which could be a useful way of preventing the escalation of local disputes. 

A Member reported some issues of anti social behaviour taking place in Chesterton Park which included dogs off leads, smoking in the toilets and general intimidation. 

A Member asked how the Council responded to reports of gang nuisance.  The Community Safety Action Officer responded that a high visibility presence from the Police and identifying key individuals for monitoring and potentially enforcement action was the usual approach.  It was important to have a partnership approach. 

A Member asked about whether families gave resistance to the Building Resilient Families and Communities initiative.  In response, the Community Safety Action Officer responded that many families had been receptive to the help offered with many of the families having tried themselves to help the individual. 

A Member stated there was a problem with loud motorbikes in Radbrook woods.  The Police had been informed on a couple of occasions but he was not aware of any significant action having been taken.  The Community Action Officer in response stated that she would be pleased to have further information from the Member concerned, so she could investigate the issue further. 

The Chairman asked for comparative data of previous anti social behaviour quarter statistics in future in order to be able to see the direction of change.  Several Members raised the issue of the noise from Mini Motos causing a nuisance to the local population and wanted to understand the options available to the Council to help resolve the problem.  They also stated that the Council should take more enforcement action in the case of derelict pubs.  The Community Safety Action Officer stated that there was legislation concerning derelict property and she intended to explore with other Officers how this could be best utilised.