Our response to anti-social behaviour (ASB)
We know that ASB can have a huge impact on those affected so, understandably, our approach to it is an important issue for many of you.
What is anti-social behaviour?
- Behaviour that causes, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress
- Behaviour capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to a person in relation to that person’s home, or
- Behaviour capable of causing housing-related nuisance or annoyance to any person.
We are changing how we manage ASB and introducing a new mediation service
It’s something we take very seriously and we have, in extreme cases, taken legal action or taken back a property to stop the issue.
The good news is that these extreme cases are not common. Since the end of March we have received 258 reports of ASB, of which 40% relate to noise.
Around a third relate to reports that are less severe, but we know can be infuriating. The vast majority of these are about inconsiderate parking, children playing and neighbours’ overgrown gardens. While these can be annoying, they are not considered ASB, and we need to deal with them differently. For example, if someone is parking inconsiderately, it may be better for you to speak to them or for us to review the parking arrangements to see if there is something we can do. We may not always be able to take action but will give you what advice and guidance we can.
To help us improve the way we manage your reports, we have reviewed our Anti-Social Behaviour Policy and are looking at ways to make what we can and cannot do, clearer. We are in the process of creating a new team who, from December, will support Housing Officers by working on high priority ASB, such as criminal activities. These currently take up a lot of time and prevent us from dealing with other issues.
The new team should allow your Housing Officer more time to deal with some of day-to-day reports we receive. We have also introduced a mediation service to help neighbours deal with complaints where legal action is not the answer. This is managed by an independent organisation that has experience of successfully dealing with issues that, at times, appear unresolvable to those involved.
We will also be consulting customers on these changes, as we need your feedback to make sure we are on the right track. Over the next few months, expect to see some changes. We will update you via our website and future editions of Talk magazine.
Examples of ASB that we can deal with:
- Noise where it is persistent, deliberate or targeted
- Harassment or intimidation, including threats, stalking, bullying, malicious communications
- Vandalism, property damage and neglect, arson, or graffiti
- Criminal behaviour, including theft, gun, and knife crime.
Examples of reports we cannot deal with as ASB:
- Smells from cooking
- Smells from smoking cannabis
- Putting rubbish out on the wrong day
- Neighbour disputes with no ASB evidence
- DIY during reasonable hours.