New joint approach to tackle anti-social behaviour
In a first for Wales, a new approach to tackle anti-social behaviour and reduce negative impact on people’s lives has been approved between Pembrokeshire County Council and social landlord ateb Group.
Anti-social behaviour (ASB) includes a range of nuisance and criminal behaviours which cause distress to others, including noise, abusive behaviour, littering and illegal drug taking.
Complaints handling and enforcement is generally shared across different organisations including the police, local authorities, and social housing landlords.
These all meet regularly on the issue of ASB and have different powers, roles and responsibilities to help and support victims.
The Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 introduced a range of powers to tackle ASB, including the use of Community Protection Notices (CPNs).
CPNs are designed to stop a person (aged 16+), a business or organisation committing ASB and put in place steps to ensure it will not reoccur.
The Council’s Public Protection Service has been using CPNs successfully in Pembrokeshire for about six years on issues such as noise, irresponsible dog ownership and accumulations of waste in gardens.
As a number of complaints received by PCC involve ateb tenants, the Public Protection Service has sought and received delegated authorisation for named ateb Housing Coordinators to seek CPNs, where appropriate.
Early intervention is recognised as a significant factor in finding long-term resolutions to ASB and ateb are often the first partner to be able to engage in local community intervention.
This move provides ateb with the tools to investigate and take action and increases the number of officers county-wide to tackle ASB.
Cllr Jacob Williams, Council Cabinet Member for Planning and Regulatory Services, said: “This is all part of the Council’s wider commitment to ensure residents in Pembrokeshire maintain their tenancies and are considerate of others in their communities.
“Delegating authority in this way to our partners in ateb allows them to become more effective members of the safety partnership.
“Anti-social behaviour can be very upsetting and it’s often not quick and easy to be resolved, but this new approach means a greater number of officers are able to help in dealing with unfortunate instances, and particularly early on, before things escalate.”
ateb Executive Director Mark Lewis, said: “ateb is committed to ensuring that all our customers can live in safe, stable, and secure environments.”
He added: “Addressing anti-social behaviour effectively is critical to ateb delivering on this commitment and having delegated authority will enable the ateb team to act at an early stage before situations escalate.
“ateb receiving Delegated authority from the Public Protection Service at PCC is a great example of partners working together to find the most effective approach to dealing with problems when they arise in communities across Pembrokeshire”.
Before a CPN can be issued, a CPN warning letter must be sent.
ateb will have to receive authorisation from Pembrokeshire County Council or Dyfed-Powys Police before issuing a CPN warning letter or a CPN itself.
A decision to consider a prosecution for non-compliance with a CPN remains with the Council and the Council would retain responsibility for taking action in Court.
Cabinet approved the granting of delegation to named ateb officers to issue CPN and Community Warning Notices in November. Cabinet heard that ateb officers have received training as required by the legislation and there will be ongoing oversight on the use of CPNs and warnings.