24. Memorandum submitted by the Office
of the Deputy Prime Minister
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. We want to offer everyone the opportunity
of a decent, affordable home in a sustainable community. We believe
that people everywhere have a right to expect a quality local
environment with well-managed green spaces, and to be safe and
to feel safe in their local neighbourhood. And we know that improving
housing and revitalising communities will not be successful in
improving quality of life if people feel threatened in those homes
or fearful of using public spaces because of the anti-social behaviour
(ASB) of a small minority.
2. We are working closely with other Government
Departments and local service providers and have made good progress
so far, with a focus on the most deprived neighbourhoods. We have
reduced the number of non-decent homes by 1 million and rough-sleeping
is down by two-thirds. We have delivered 3,000 new neighbourhood
wardens, and have seen crime fall by 28% in the first wave of
warden areas. We have invested over £200 million in well-managed
parks and public spaces and are working with Defra on the Clean
Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill.
3. We are determined to tackle anti-social
behaviour wherever it occurs. We are promoting balanced local approaches
that involve prevention, support and enforcement to crack often
complex problems. And we are also introducing new tools, for instance,
implementing new legislation to expand the range of tools available
to local authorities to tackle anti-social behaviour across all
housing tenures.
4. Furthermore, through our ongoing work
on the development of local:vision—the long term strategy
for the future of local government—we will be working closely
with the Home Office to consider how local government can work
most effectively with other partners to tackle anti-social behaviour.
5. This memorandum sets out further details
of our approach.
NEIGHBOURHOOD ENGAGEMENT
AND RESPONSIVE
SERVICES
6. Alongside the ODPM's 5-year plan, "People,
Places Prosperity", we published a discussion document on
neighbourhood engagement, "Citizen Engagement and Public
Services: Why Neighbourhoods Matter", as part of the
Government's debate on a 10-year vision for local government.
We have worked closely with the Home Office on this document and
it is a jointly badged publication (ODPM and Home Office).
7. We want opportunities for people to help
shape the public services they receive in their neighbourhood,
with new opportunities for people to become involved in the democratic
life of their locality. We believe that by action at the neighbourhood
level people everywhere can make a real difference to the quality
of our country's public services. We recognise that there can
be no "one size fits all" approach. That is why we are
proposing a framework for neighbourhood arrangements that builds
on what people are already doing. This will involve a neighbourhoods
charter, a menu of options for action at the neighbourhood level,
and key principles for neighbourhood engagement.
8. It will be for councils everywhere to
provide opportunities and support for neighbourhood activities
that are right for their localities. The discussion document sets
out ideas for building on the proposals outlined in the Clean
Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill and the Police Reform White
Paper in relation to tackling anti-social behaviour. It states
that it may be appropriate in certain circumstances for neighbourhood
bodies to be empowered and authorised to levy fixed penalty notices
and apply for Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) if there is
a persistent problem in the neighbourhood in relation to, for
example, litter, graffiti or other anti-social behaviour. It also
discusses the possibility of Quality Parishes having additional
responsibilities in relation to, for example, hedge disputes,
recommending alcohol licence reviews or applying for ASBOs.
LOCAL AREA
AGREEMENTS
9. Local Area Agreements (LAAs) form a key
part of the Government's 10-year vision for local government.
They will enable local areas to focus on the delivery of a limited
number of key outcomes, with rationalised funding streams, simplified
audit and monitoring processes and greater flexibility to find
local solutions to local problems. LAAs are currently being piloted
in 21 areas and we have just announced a further 40 pilots to
be in place by 2006.
10. LAAs will be structured around three
blocks: children and young people, safer and stronger communities,
and healthier communities and older people. There is a mandatory
outcome for all LAAs on anti-social behaviour within the safer
and stronger communities block. In addition, local areas may choose
other supporting outcomes and indicators in any of the three blocks,
and/or propose their own.
11. LAAs will help improve joined-up working
among local partners, including the voluntary and community sector.
They present a significant opportunity for empowering communities
to take ownership of improved outcomes for their local area, including
local concerns on ASB where they exist. Whilst LAA negotiations
are ongoing, local areas are tailoring their own approaches to
ASB. For example, Bradford includes in its LAA the aim of "supporting
young men to create positive futures," whilst Ipswich is
focusing on reducing alcohol misuse, which in its area is associated
with 70% of ASB.
LOCAL AUTHORITY
FUNDING
12. In 2005-06, central government has continued
to provide a real terms increase in investment in local government
which will allow authorities to continue to deliver improving
services at an affordable cost. For 2005-06, the Government will
provide local authorities with £49 billion in Formula Grant,
which represents an increase of 5.6% compared with 2004-05. In
addition, for 2005-06 central government will be providing councils
with £11.1 billion in specific grants, and this represents
an increase of 9.4% compared with 2004-05. The proportion of the
total Formula Grant for 2005-06 that is provided as police grant
is £11.8 billion, an increase of 6.7% compared with 2004-05.
CLEANER, SAFER,
GREENER PLACES
13. ODPM leads on the delivery of the cross-Government
"Cleaner, Safer, Greener Communities" programme. We
will measure our performance through our new PSA target which
sets out to make measurable improvements in local quality of life
in every community, by 2008. In particular, this PSA will also
work in close conjunction with Home Office's PSA2 in delivering
the priorities of the Cleaner, Safer, Greener Communities programme
which are to:
— Create attractive and welcoming parks,
play areas and public spaces.
— Improve the physical fabric and infrastructure
of places.
— Make places cleaner and maintain
them better.
— Make places safer and tackle anti-social
behaviour.
— Engage and empower local people and
communities.
— Provide appropriate provision for
children and young people, and tackle inequalities.
14. At the heart of the programme is support
for local authorities to raise standards. Local authorities will
receive around £7 billion for local environmental services
over the next three years to tackle such issues as litter, graffiti,
fly-posting, dog-fouling and abandoned vehicles. This will be
supplemented by the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund which
merges several existing ODPM and Home Office funding streams for
wardens, neighbourhood management, community empowerment, liveability,
building safer communities and tackling anti-social behaviour.
The Safer and Stronger Communities Fund will be rolled out across
all local authorities in England from April 2005 with funding
being a minimum of £210 million, £220 million and £230
million for 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively.
15. We will also provide extra powers to
deal with anti-social behaviour through the Clean Neighbourhoods
and Environment Bill, published by Defra. Fly posting, litter
droppers, abandoned vehicles and other nuisances which blight
our communities will be targets for action. Specific proposals
in the bill include:
— ensuring that local Crime and Disorder
Reduction Partnerships will take anti-social behaviour affecting
the local environment into account in developing crime and disorder
reduction strategies;
— new powers to gate nuisance alleyways
that attract anti-social behaviour;
— and making greater use of fixed penalty
notices as an alternative to prosecution.
16. Over the next three years, the ODPM
will work with the Home Office, DCMS, Defra, DoH, DfT, as well
as practitioners at all levels, to sustain a climate of innovation
and good practice to promote Cleaner, Safer, Greener places. We
will commit £5 million over the next three years to establish
a "How To" programme, including the production of three
Guides which will outline the powers and tools available to tackle
the issues which affect our town centres; homes and streets; and
parks and open spaces. The "How To" Guide for Town Centres
will be published in March and will focus on making town centres,
cleaner, safer and better run, with a particular focus on the
impact of the night time economy and anti-social behaviour.
17. Business Improvement Districts (BIDs)
are an innovative town centre management initiative where local
businesses work with their local authority in BID areas to identify
and fund responses to local issues, including those associated
with anti-social behaviour such as alcohol related violence. Four
areas have had success in establishing a BID. Some of the pilots
have a particular focus on problems associated with the night-time
economy.
ANTI-SOCIAL
BEHAVIOUR AND
HOUSING
18. We want to live in safe, decent homes
and neighbourhoods regardless of the type of housing we live in.
This is why ODPM has introduced a number of measures to deal with
anti-social behaviour specifically in relation to housing. These
measures are designed to work as a package across housing tenures,
and with tools introduced by other Government Departments, notably
the Home Office and DEFRA.
Owner-occupation
19. While some tools available to tackle
ASB are dependent on tenure, many enforcement mechanisms, such
as Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs), Anti-social Behaviour
Orders (ASBOs), Parenting Orders and types of injunction are available
for use by local authorities, the police and social landlords
regardless of the "perpetrator's" or the "victim's"
housing status.
Social housing
20. Social landlords have a key role in
identifying and tackling anti-social behaviour in the communities
in which they work, particularly because the vulnerable and disadvantaged
are suffering disproportionately from anti-social behaviour. Many
landlords are already effectively working with other agencies
to prioritise anti-social behaviour and are successfully tackling
such behaviour.
21. A number of powers are available specifically
to social landlords to protect their tenants and the wider community,
but such powers must be used as part of a wider strategy to prevent
problems and to provide support where it is needed. New tools
include those measures introduced by Part 2 of the Anti-social
Behaviour Act (2003) such as flexible new housing injunctions,
demoted tenancies and a duty to publish policies and procedures.
New measures under the Housing Act 2004 will also be available
for use soon giving landlords the right to refuse a secure tenant's
request for a mutual exchange in certain cases of anti-social
behaviour and measures to suspend tenants' right to buy on anti-social
behaviour grounds.
22. Enforcement, though essential in protecting
communities, is not the only means of tackling anti-social behaviour.
Landlords can do a great deal to ensure that problems are prevented
from escalating, thereby avoiding the point where eviction becomes
the only option and preventing homelessness. This might involve
mediation services, or diversionary projects for young people
and helping them to make it through often-difficult transitions
in life.
23. We are working closely with the Home
Office, via the TOGETHER campaign. Ten "TOGETHER" trailblazer
areas for 2004-05 and 2005-06 were announced in September 2004
by the Home Secretary. They provide funding for new intensive
support projects for families with children on the cusp of eviction
and for families with children in temporary accommodation who
have been evicted because of anti-social behaviour. The aim is
to stop the anti-social behaviour in the short term, and prevent
it recurring in the future by stabilising the lives of the families
concerned. On 14 February 2005 the scheme was extended to cover
all of the 50 TOGETHER Action Areas.
24. In January 2004 the ODPM commissioned
a team of researchers (led by Sheffield Hallam University) to
undertake a two year study into the provision of specialist resettlement
projects. The aim of the study is to evaluate residential and
outreach projects for tenants at risk of being evicted for anti-social
behaviour in terms of costs and benefits, effectiveness and lessons
for wider dissemination.
25. ODPM will work in partnership with the
Home Office's Anti-social Behaviour Unit (ASBU) to issue joint
good practice guidance to help all areas develop preventative
approaches. This will emphasise the need to combine enforcement
action with support measures, taking firm action to protect communities
and neighbours from the problems caused by a small minority.
Private Rented Sector
26. The Government is committed to helping
private landlords to improve their expertise in dealing with anti-social
tenants through local authority accreditation schemes and other
best practice initiatives. However, we recognise that matters
that affect the welfare of tenants and the wider community cannot
simply be left to self-regulation and we need to ensure that tools
are available to tackle the performance of those who continue
to neglect their duties.
27. In addition to the tools previously
mentioned, the Housing Act will introduce new, complimentary measures,
all of which are planned to come into force by the end of the
year. These include:
— Licensing Houses in Multiple Occupation
(HMOs), such as bedsits and student accommodation; mandatory licensing
for larger, higher-risk HMOs and discretionary powers to license
smaller, multiple-occupied properties.
— Selective licensing of privately
rented properties by local authorities in designated areas, to
help tackle the problems of low housing demand and anti-social
behaviour.
— Management orders for individual
properties to enable local authorities to take over the management
of problem properties.
— Enabling local authorities to take
management control of long-term empty homes that may, in some
instances, be contributing to ASB.
28. Under both HMO licensing and Selective
licensing, licences may contain a condition requiring landlords
to take reasonable and practicable steps to combat or reduce anti-social
behaviour emanating from the property, for instance by reporting
such ASB to the appropriate authorities. And if landlords fail
repeatedly to tackle anti-social behaviour by tenants, local authorities
will be able to revoke their licence and even take over management
of the property themselves.
PREVENTING ANTI-SOCIAL
BEHAVIOUR THROUGH
NEIGHBOURHOOD RENEWAL
PROGRAMMES
29. Our Neighbourhood Renewal programmes
focus on the most deprived areas, and give people the power and
money to turn their neighbourhoods around. £1.875 billion
of Neighbourhood Renewal Funding (NRF) resources have been allocated
over the period 2001-06, with a further £1 billion available
for 2006-08 (an announcement is expected later in the year on
the allocations). During 2003-04 (the year for which the latest
information is available), around 19% of NRF resources were spent
on crime reduction related activity—roughly £85 million.
30. These extra resources for the most deprived
communities are being successfully used to tackle anti-social
behaviour. For instance, £1.5 million of NRF was used by
Wakefield Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) to fund Neighbourhood
Environmental Action Teams. The teams worked closely with core
environmental service agencies to provide a "rapid response"
approach to dealing with problems identified by public calls to
the 24 hour ASB hotline. The problems promptly dealt with included
graffiti, fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles and litter. In the first
eight weeks of the teams existence, a total of 1,322 calls were
responded to, including 464 "out of hours" responses.
31. Other neighbourhood renewal initiatives
are also successfully addressing anti-social behaviour. Neighbourhood
wardens provide a highly visible, uniformed, semi-official presence
in residential and public areas, town centres and high-crime areas.
Wardens are seen as the friendly face of regeneration and are
therefore often more approachable than the police. Many have set
up youth diversionary activities such as after school clubs, youth
shelters, junior warden schemes and sporting teams. There is a
clear link between wardens and ASB improvements in that people
who say that wardens make them feel safer are more likely to say
the problems of teenagers have got better.
32. Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders
are working with local agencies to improve and link services at
a local neighbourhood level. For example, Great Lever Bolton Pathfinder
is addressing anti-social behaviour by working with Bolton Anti-social
Behaviour Unit. The Pathfinder is piloting anti-social behaviour
contracts, an initiative which also involves school liaison officers,
the Police and housing services.
33. In addition, the New Deal for Communities
(NDC) programme provides £2 billion to 39 of the most deprived
communities over 10 years. The aim is to reduce the gap between
the life experiences of those living in these neighbourhoods and
those in the rest of England. Whilst each NDC partnership will
have problems unique to their area, most NDC's tackle anti-social
behaviour as part of their overall strategy to tackle problems
in a co-ordinated approach.
34. The New Deal for Communities are delivering
outcomes that make a real impact on the people living in their
neighbourhood, including on anti-social behaviour. For example,
In East Manchester, the NDC has funded a dedicated police researcher
to examine crime in the area who found that 4% of local criminals
were responsible for 40% of the detected crime in the area. As
a result, the NDC funded East Manchester Burglary, Robbery and
Autocrime (EMBRACE) Project which now tracks 33 local persistent
offenders. The project has issued 46 voluntary "acceptable
behaviour" contracts in the NDC area since October 2003,
with only five being broken.
35. The majority of NDCs fund youth diversion
projects using a wide range of activities to reach a broad section
of young people including those on Anti-social Behaviour Orders,
repeat offenders and self excluders and are popular with the young
people themselves. For example, Middlesbrough NDC runs a Youth
Inclusion Project which includes a Splash school with sports activities,
leadership and citizenship skills, career/life management and
a learning mentor scheme. Hull NDC supports young people through
a fishing club, youth club, a Cyber club, drop in facilities and
the Preston Road motorbike club. Support to young people is also
given through Anti-social Behaviour Contracts to prevent escalation
to an ASBO.
36. NDCs are also using certain legal powers
to deal with anti social behaviour involving privately owned properties.
For example, Brighton NDC has taken steps to enforce covenants
against anti-social behaviour, which were imposed when former
council properties were sold under the Right to Buy, and which
are now rented through private landlords, and Doncaster NDC is
currently using Notices under Section 215 of the Town and Country
planning Act 1990 requiring owners of empty property to remedy
its condition.
BEGGING AND
HOMELESSNESS
37. Anti-social behaviour also has an impact
on city centres where problems such as begging and street drinking
are often perceived by the public to be associated with homelessness.
Research has shown that the majority of individuals involved with
begging or street drinking are not sleeping on the streets and
indeed without assertive interventions to reduce their anti-social
behaviour they may enter a downward spiral that ends with them
as rough sleepers. ODPM will continue to work with ASBU to promote
best practice and targeted interventions in key city centres to
prevent homelessness and reduce anti-social behaviour. Work will
focus on action which prevents homelessness and reduces anti-social
behaviour such as begging, street drinking and drug use. Key areas
will be monitored to measure performance and the areas to be targeted
will be reviewed on a regular basis.
22 February 2003
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