Agenda item

Report  ES14086

This report was written by Mr Robert Vale, Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety.

This report aimed to update Members on the review and overhaul of the system of dealing with anti-social behaviour in order that agencies responsible for enforcing the legislation, focus on putting the needs of the victims first. The way anti-social behaviour would be reported in the future would depend on the impact felt by the victim, rather than the behaviour itself.

The Act reformed the tools available to deal with anti-social behaviour including the introduction of civil injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance; it included a power to exclude people from their homes for anti-social behaviour where there is a risk of harm to others.

Mr Vale outlined the main points of the Act to the Committee:

It was explained that the Act introduced two new measures which were designed to give victims and communities a say in the way anti-social behaviour is dealt with; these were the Community Trigger and the Community Remedy.

The Community Trigger would be the means by which individuals or communities would “trigger” a case review to look into allegations of anti-social behaviour and crime that met the relevant threshold, and had not yet been resolved. The Community Trigger would be activated after three complaints that met the locally agreed threshold. The relevant bodies that would have statutory obligations under the Act would be MOPAC (Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime), the local authority, the local Clinical Commissioning Group, RSLS (Registered Social Landlords). 

Members noted LBB (London Borough of Bromley) would need to draft a local Community Trigger procedure document. It was further noted that the joined up Community Trigger procedure agreed by the relevant partner organisations, would need to be submitted to MOPAC for approval. This would need to be done in the next few weeks.

The Committee noted that additional staffing resource would probably be required to provide the relevant administrative support needed to administer the Community Trigger Procedure. The Portfolio Holder wondered if there would be MOPAC funding available for this.

A Member commented that this seemed like a case of another burden on the local authority and police, with no further funding. This was a sentiment expressed also by the Borough Commander, who stated that the resource to deal with the Community Remedy would need to come from that already existing, and the responsibility for this would likely fall to the Safer Neighbourhood Teams. 

A Member expressed concern that the police may struggle with this extra statutory duty. Another member highlighted the importance of making the scheme accessible to those who were vulnerable.

Members observed that all relevant bodies would have to work together to devise and produce a Community Trigger Strategy. There would need to be an LBB point of contact for making a Community Trigger application, and this was likely to be the LBB Anti-social Behaviour Co-ordinator.

Members were informed that the Community Remedy Document would be designed to provide victims with a say in the out of court punishment of perpetrators for low-level crime and anti-social behaviour. It was a police function and it would be the task of the police to draft a Community Remedy document for Bromley.

Mr Vale concluded his update with a summary of new and revised powers available under the Act:

·  Injunction to prevent nuisance and annoyance

·  Criminal Behaviour Order

·  Community Protection Notice

·  Public Spaces Protection Order

·  Closure Power.

RESOLVED:

(1) that the report be noted

(2) that resource to administer the Community Trigger procedure be procured, possibly from existing staff resources including the redeployment pool

(3) that work be commenced on drafting the LBB Community Trigger document

(4) that enquiry be made to see if there was any funding to assist from MOPAC