Issue - meetings

Report number DCS28 by the Director of Community Services.  (attached)

DECISION:

(1)    To approve and adopt the Action Plan for dealing with Anti-Social Behaviour, and to bring forward the estimated cost of £60,000 to implement the Plan as part of the Council’s budgetary process;

(2)    That Portfolio Holders and Service Managers be encouraged to make provision for service specific actions identified in the Action Plan within their service plans;

(3)    To note that the document is subject to amendment and review in line with changes in Government legislation and that any amendments will be brought back to the Cabinet for approval;

(4)    To note that the document is subject to development, amendment and review following ongoing consultation with; the Council’s CDRP partners, the community, and with other statutory and non-statutory agencies.  Any amendment to be referred back to the Cabinet for approval;

(5)    The Action Plan to be subject to review in April/May 2006 to ensure it provides the right balance between its enforcement objectives and the diversionary/preventative action undertaken by the Local Strategic Partnership;

(6)    The appended page on additional CCTV cameras to be deleted from the final document.

Considerations/Reasons for Decision:

(1)     Report number DCS28 by the Director of Community Services introducing the appended Action Plan for dealing with Anti-Social Behaviour which had been identified by the Council as a Category A priority.  In line with this priority, the Action Plan focuses on four key action areas: enforcement, community support and engagement, prevention and education;

(2)     The increasingly high emphasis being placed by the Government on anti-social behaviour and the methods to tackle it.  It is also a key concern to the public;

(3)     To tackle anti-social behaviour effectively, the Council needs a clear action plan.  This action plan defines a range of approaches that can be used to tackle anti-social behaviour;

(4)     The plan identifies two full time anti-social behaviour officers and expansion of the work and scope of the Enforcement Rangers which will require an additional £60,000 to the existing financial resources;

(5)     The Gateway review of priorities in 2006 will consider the progress on anti-social behaviour.  The Audit Commission’s inspection of the Council’s activity in tackling anti-social behaviour will be looking for a balance between its enforcement role and the diversionary and preventative work undertaken by the LSP;

(6)     The appendix to the Plan on CCTV camera provision does not link in with the contents of the rest of the document.

Other options considered and assessed:

People’s understanding of what constitutes anti-social behaviour is also determined by a series of factors including context, location, community tolerance and quality of life expectations.  Also the subjective nature of the concept makes it difficult to identify a single way of tackling anti-social behaviour.  To overcome this issue, a wide range of approaches and methods are proposed.