Agenda item

Officer update on anti-social behaviour in area/eards breakdown and the cost for anti-social behaviour to leaseholders.

6.1  The report was introduced to the sub-committee by David Littleton the Environmental Health and Trading Standards Business Manager, who outlined the content of the paper. It was noted that levels of anti-social behaviour were quite high, the most common type code were rowdy behaviour, noise and rowdy neighbours.

6.2  There are a large number of enforcement options open when considering how to deal with antisocial behaviours, the ones noted in the report are:

·  Closure orders - in terms of notice seeking possession (NSP’s) crack house closures, or evictions for other types of antisocial behaviour.

·  Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABC’s) are issued by SASBU as an early intervention against all manners of antisocial behaviour. Breaches of these contracts can be used as evidence to support ASBO.

·  Anti Social Behaviour Orders are civil orders made against people who have been evidenced to have persistently engaged in antisocial behaviour. They can take the form of a stand alone order, or post conviction.

6.3  The sub-committee were informed that there were certain areas where private rented properties had greatly increased i.e. Peckham and Camberwell Green. 

6.4  The officer reported that licensing would need to be introduced across the whole of the borough to address the private rented sector in Southwark to improve poor conditions and health & safety for tenants.

6.5  The officer explained that there was need to develop a project plan, highlight resources and put a team of officers in place. Officers would need consult with tenants and landlords as well as analyse all available data. This project will be set in motion sooner rather than later and should take 18 months to 2 years to go live.

6.6  This process would produce a report to Cabinet before going to Council Assembly for approval, setting fees and charges for the project which would need to be endorsed, officers believe the proposals will happen. The only question is whether it is an area scheme or borough-wide.

6.7  The chair stated that he understood that the council’s communication team would provide a programme to raise awareness and making a case for the proposal of this scheme, followed by a phase of education and then data analysis. This would provide a report to the Cabinet which would then go to Council Assembly for agreement. The Chair stated that he felt this scheme needs to be implemented on a borough-wide basis.

6.8  The officer reported that once the final cost has been determined it will be relatively easy to work out the income, and the scheme will eventually work out to be self financing.

6.9  The sub-committee agreed to invite Paul Langford from Housing and John Daley from the Private Sector Accreditation to the next meeting of the on Monday 21^st October 2013.