John Denham announces extra support for communities to tackle anti-social behaviour

Published	20 November 2009

Millions of people across the country will get extra help to tackle anti-social behaviour with up to ten thousand front-line staff and community champions receiving training and support to use tough powers and solve local problems, Communities Secretary John Denham and Housing Minister John Healey announced today.

Many local councils and social landlords working with the police are tackling anti-social behaviour effectively and supporting victims. Latest figures from the British Crime Survey show there has been a fall in people's perception of anti-social behaviour as a local problem over the last six years.

But statistics are cold comfort to victims - and Ministers are determined that everyone across the country should be working together in driving down anti-social behaviour and driving up people's confidence.

Today's announcement is about making sure support and training goes further and deeper across communities.

John Denham and John Healey are therefore calling on frontline staff from community safety teams to housing officers across England to make full use of the powers and tools already available, while giving more support to residents and community activists.

This drive, which is being funded by a £10m package, will target 130 local councils.

Among the measures it will support are:

letting local residents know the rights and how to report anti-social behaviour through targeted leaflets, regional events and information for local media
extra training for frontline staff such as ASB co-ordinators, police and neighbourhood wardens
training to help residents and community champions challenge police and councils and shape the approach to tackling anti-social behaviour; and
extra funding for local work to tackle anti-social behaviour such as environmental clean up campaigns, supporting community led projects to engage young people and creating more attractive public spaces.

Communities Secretary John Denham said:

"We're making sure millions of people know how to report anti-social behaviour and when they do, front-line staff are better equipped to deal with any problems. We want to spur more action, faster action and more effective results so people can be confident that problems are being tackled and stopped. We want people to know they are not alone - government, their council and police are on their side, whether it's tackling nightmare neighbours, aggressive gangs or mindless vandals.

"It might be a minority causing harm and misery for the majority but we are clear - this won't be tolerated. We're backing our communities and our neighbourhoods. To help this we're giving the opportunity to thousands of community champions for support and training so they can ensure councils and police deliver, using all the powers they have and doing all they can."

Home Secretary Alan Johnson said:

"The public rightly expects to live in neighbourhoods free from the corrosive effects of intimidation and harassment. They want to see both local authorities and police using the powers they have been given in a way that is effective and responsive.

"Some areas need the extra help we will be giving them to ensure that anti-social behaviour is tackled not tolerated.

"It is only through successful partnership working, between local and central Government, the police, social landlords and the broader community, that we can continue to reduce public concern over anti-social behaviour."

At the same time today's announcement includes new measures to tackle anti-social behaviour for people living in social housing. This includes:

ensuring tenants are supported to challenge landlords, councils and the police where they are failing or not acting quickly enough
a new housing anti-social behaviour action squad to work with landlords on the ground to spread and embed good practice
new guidance for social landlords to provide them with a detailed understanding of how to use their powers effectively; and
a revised, Respect Standard, on tackling anti-social behaviour, which will be become binding on social landlords for the first time.

Housing Minister John Healey said:

"Our homes and estates should be places where people like living and feel safe, but in some areas a small number of people are ruining that and where this happens we need to take rapid action. That's why we're making sure councils and housing associations aren't just responsible for bricks and mortar, but that they can also influence the quality of life in local neighbourhoods. They're also responsible for cracking down on anti-social behaviour and have powers to do so.

"But it'll be up to tenants too, to get involved if their community is being blighted by anti-social behaviour. As a result of the new measures, tenants will have the power to hold their landlords to account and trigger quick and effective action when they think it's needed and it's important that people know about and make use of these powers. Social landlords have the powers to crack down on anti-social behaviour and I am backing tenants in wanting them used to the full."

This action builds on the recent pledge by the Home Secretary to crack down on ASBO breaches, drive up the performance of local areas in tackling anti-social behaviour and provide better support for victims.

Today's announcement also ties in with the Justice Seen Justice Done campaign, a key part of which is about ensuring the public know who to contact, what their rights are and how to get information on tackling anti-social behaviour, which in turn helps build their confidence in the criminal justice system.

The confidence target reflects the fact that dealing with local crime and anti-social behaviour issues is a joint matter for the police and councils. Government is today providing support and funding to councils and will continue to support police forces, ensuring they both work together to keep neighbourhoods safe and confident.

As announced in the Queen's Speech the Government will legislate to protect communities by ensuring that parents take responsibility for their children's antisocial behaviour and by tackling youth gang crime.

Also the Department for Children, Schools and Families are putting record investment into positive activities for young people, particularly targeted on neighbourhoods with high levels of anti-social behaviour and crime. They are also doing more to provide support to young people to address the causes of poor behaviour, alongside enforcement action.

Notes to editors

1. Councils and the police have more powers and tools to deal with antisocial behaviour than ever before. These include:

Acceptable behaviour contracts
Acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs) are non-legally-binding written contracts between one or more local agency and someone who has behaved anti-socially, outlining what that person should or should not do. They are often used with children and young people, but can equally be used for adults, when a warning has been unsuccessful in addressing a problem.

Anti-social behaviour injunctions
An injunction is a civil order made by the county court to compel an adult (over the age of 18) to do something, or to prevent a particular action or behaviour. They can be applied for by social landlords against tenants, owner-occupiers and non-tenants. Injunctions are used when someone is committing anti-social behaviour, including noise nuisance, verbal abuse, visitors causing nuisance to neighbours, untidy gardens and threats of violence or actual violence.

Anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs)
Anti-social behaviour orders are civil orders that protect the public from behaviour that causes, or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress. ASBOs are not criminal penalties, but breach of an ASBO is a criminal offence. They can be made on anyone aged 10 or over who has displayed anti-social behaviour in the previous six months. They are intended to protect the public from further anti-social behaviour.

Family intervention projects
When an agency has received numerous complaints about the behaviour of a family and the impact they're having on their local community, they can use a family intervention project to work with that family to change their behaviour. The family is offered help to address the causes of their behaviour, along with supervision and enforcement to ensure they change it.

Community agreements
Community agreements are written settlements reached between the residents of a community to resolve disputes. The agreement is based on the wishes of the majority, and facilitated by independent mediators who make private and confidential visits to each person involved. They are used when there is conflict or unrest within a neighbourhood.
More information on all the powers and tools available can be found at: www.respect.gov.uk (external link)

2. The announcement includes a measure to ensure landlords work to prevent and tackle anti-social behaviour by making the Respect Standard for Housing Management binding from April 2010. Where necessary industry regulator Tenant Services Authority will be able to use new enforcement powers to ensure that tenants get a good service. These can include issuing enforcement notices or even transferring the management of properties to another provider. In addition, housing associations can face fines or be forced to pay compensation to their tenants.

3. The local authorities receiving funding are listed below:

Region	Local Authority	Funding allocation (£ thousands)
East Midlands	Northamptonshire	64
	Nottingham	54
	Nottinghamshire	74
	Lincolnshire	44
	Leicestershire	44
	Derby	44
	Bolsover	40
	Leicester	40
London	Ealing	54
	Hackney	54
	Harrow	44
	Havering	44
	Islington	54
	Kensington and Chelsea	44
	Newham	54
	Waltham Forest	54
	Westminster	44
	Barking and Dagenham	54
	Bexley	54
	Camden	54
	Enfield	54
	Haringey	54
	Hillingdon	54
	Lambeth	54
	Lewisham	54
	Merton	44
	Richmond upon Thames	44
	Sutton	44
	Tower Hamlets	54
	Redbridge	54
	Brent	40
	Greenwich	40
	Hounslow	40
	Southwark	40
	Hammersmith and Fulham	40
North East	Darlington	44
	Gateshead	54
	Hartlepool	44
	Middlesborough	54
	Northumberland	44
	Redcar and Cleveland	54
	South Tyneside	54
	Stockton-on-Tees	44
	Sunderland	54
	County Durham	44
	Newcastle upon Tyne	54
	North Tyneside	44
North West	Bolton	54
	Halton	54
	Oldham	54
	Salford	54
	Trafford	44
	Cheshire West and Chester	44
	East Cheshire Borough	44
	Rochdale	54
	St. Helens	54
	Stockport	44
	Warrington	44
	Wigan	54
	Blackburn with Darwen	40
	Blackpool	40
	Burnley	40
	Knowsley	40
	Liverpool	40
	Manchester	40
	Pendle	40
	Preston	40
	Sefton	40
	Tameside	40
South East	Brighton and Hove	44
	Isle of Wight	44
	Medway	54
	Portsmouth	54
	Slough	54
	West Sussex	44
	Bracknell Forest	44
	Buckinghamshire	44
	Kent	64
	Milton Keynes	44
	Oxfordshire	44
	Reading	54
	Southampton	54
	Surrey	44
	West Berkshire	44
	Windsor and Maidenhead	44
	Wokingham	44
	Hampshire	44
South West	Bournemouth	44
	Poole	44
	Wiltshire	44
	Bath and N E Somerset	44
	Bristol	54
	Isles of Scilly	44
	North Somerset	44
	Plymouth	44
	Somerset	44
	South Gloucestershire	44
Yorkshire and Humber	Barnsley	54
	Bradford	54
	Calderdale	44
	Kirklees	54
	North East Lincolnshire	54
	Rotherham	54
	Sheffield	54
	Wakefield	54
	York	44
	Doncaster	54
	East Riding of Yorkshire	44
	Kingston-upon-Hull	54
	North Lincolnshire	44
West Midlands	Dudley	44
	Telford and Wrekin	44
	Worcestershire	44
	Stoke-on-Trent	54
	Birmingham	54
	Sandwell	54
	Solihull	44
	Staffordshire	64
	Herefordshire	44
	Warwickshire	54
	Wolverhampton	54
	Walsall	40
East of England	Cambridgeshire	44
	Essex	54
	Hertfordshire	54
	Luton	54
	Peterborough	54
	Southend-on-Sea	44
	Norfolk	44
	Thurrock	54