The District Council continues to tackle anti-social behaviour

A range of measures to tackle ASB will be presented at next week’s Cabinet meeting as recommendations to build upon the work currently being done to improve safety and security of residents and businesses in the district.

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is behaviour which causes nuisance, harassment, alarm or distress to one or more people in different households. It can affect anyone at any time and is often deeply threatening to our sense of safety.

Types of ASB include graffiti, litter, verbal abuse, drug dealing, drinking alcohol in the street, begging and irresponsible dog ownership.

Recommendations being presented for approval to tackle these sorts of incidents include changes to the way the Community Protection Officers (CPOs) operate in order to improve their visibility in the community, taking into account locations and times of their patrols. The District Council is recommending to invest in an additional hybrid vehicle and charging point to increase the presence of CPOs across the district by allowing them to work more flexibly and provide an enhanced responsive service.   

Improvements to communication with residents would also be made in order to better help them identify cases of ASB and understanding how, and to whom, they can report incidents.

The recommendations also include the continuation of collaborative partnership working, particularly with the Police. Continuing to work with the Police on early intervention initiatives in primary schools and the development of mental health first-aid training for relevant officers is another measure that will be explored.

Councillor David Lloyd, Leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “Anti-social behaviour incidents can be extremely distressing to victims and our priority is always to make sure our district remains a safe and welcoming place to live, work and visit.

“Cracking down on ASB has a huge part to play in making Newark and Sherwood cleaner, safer and greener. We’ve seen what we can achieve when working with partners and funding additional security measures. Implementing these recommendations will allow us to build upon this work to create a community that our residents can feel safe and secure in.”

The recommended measures would be implemented alongside the current work the District Council has already committed to in order to tackle anti-social behaviour including partnership work such as the Safer Streets projects, which have already proved successful, with the District Council working with partners from Nottinghamshire Police and the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner to deliver security measures such as gating, lighting and CCTV cameras that help deter ASB.

The ‘No Excuse for Abuse’ campaign has also been launched recently by the District Council, in a bid to reduce abusive behaviour towards staff following 59 violent incidents being recorded during 2021 and 2022. The campaign outlines its zero-tolerance policy and the importance of staff being able to come to work and perform their responsibilities in a safe work environment.

To find out more about anti-social behaviour visit: https://www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/asb/