Issue - meetings

To give consideration to the policy and procedures for dealing with Anti-Social Neighbours in private and let accommodation

The Committee received a report from the Community Safety Development Manager and the Antisocial Behaviour Team Leader on policy and procedures for dealing with antisocial neighbours in private and let accommodation.

Residents in Private own or rent housing did not have the same access to preventative measure with regards to assistance with antisocial behaviour (ASB) and neighbour disputes as those who were part of a Registered Social Landlord (RSL) scheme. In many cases this had led to feuds and disputes becoming unresolved and escalating as residents were unable to afford access to legal aid at their own cost. In order to assist those in private housing who could not afford legal aid to deal with disputes, the Antisocial Behaviour Team used a one off grant from the Home Office to commission the services of the Manchester City Council’s mediation service. The ASB Team bought support for 54 cases of residents in private housing needing early intervention and mediation. Once there had been 54 cases or the deadline of 31^st March 2013 was passed the Council would be unable to offer support to residents in private housing as the ASB team was too small to offer the support itself. The RSLs have their own processes for dealing with antisocial behaviour in social housing.

The main service that was offered to private housing residents was mediation which was designed to help residents resolve their disputes themselves before any issues escalated into antisocial activity between neighbours. If mediation didn’t work the ASB team had various options including involving the Police and private landlords.

The Committee ask questions and the following points arose:

·         Police dispatchers had access to the Council’s case information and background to help inform officers who were dealing with incidents.

·         The ASB team couldn’t attribute any successes directly to their mediation work however case studies and reduced repeat offence rates could demonstrate the impact of the service. This would help to justify the value of the service and contribute to securing additional funding.     

·         Three out of the four posts in the ASB team had recently been mainstream funded due to a cut to grants. One part time post was still being funded by the Police however it was unsure whether this would continue past 31 March 2013. The Head of Safer Communities would look into the possibility of mainstreaming this post if funding was lost as he had no doubt about the value of the ASB teams work.          

·         The Committee was pleased with the work of the ASB team and would support it in securing additional funding for its support of residents.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the report be noted.   

(b)  That the Committee request the Antisocial Behaviour (ASB) team return to the Committee in September 2012 to provide evidence of positive outcomes due to early intervention and proposed budget requirements for 2013/14.