Reporting Anti Social Behaviour
You do not have to live with anti-social
behaviour, or suffer in silence, please tell us using one of the
following ways:
- Telephoning our customer service centre on 0800 111 40
13.
- In person at one of our area offices. Please contact 0800
111 40 13 to arrange an appointment with a member of our
Neighbourhood Team.
- E-mailing: service.centre@longhurst-group.org.uk
- In writing
Report your
ASB on-line by clicking here.
If the nuisance or anti-social behaviour involves criminal
activity or the threat of violence, you should contact the police.
You should also report the incident to us as soon as possible.
Dealing with Anti-Social Behaviour
We will respond to all reports of anti-social behaviour or
nuisance to see what help or advice we can give. We will let you
know what action we can take. We aim to respond to all serious
incidents within 1 working day, such as:
- Acts of violence
- Domestic violence
- Hate crime
- Intimidation
We aim to respond to all general incidents of anti-social
behaviour within 5 working days, such as:
- Verbal or written abuse
- Criminal activity
- Aggressive and threatening language or behaviour
- Dog fouling
- Rubbish
- Nuisance vehicles
- Noise nuisance
What you can do before reporting something to
us
We normally ask if you have spoken to the person causing the
problems. If you know who is causing the problem, talking to them
and explaining how their behaviour is affecting you may help to
resolve the problem at an early stage. You should only do this if
you feel safe to do so. We can provide advice on how to do this in
our separate fact sheet ' neighbourhood disputes' and ‘dealing with
noise nuisance’ (links to be added shortly).
If you have tried this and it has not worked please contact us.
We will then discuss the problem with you and agree an action plan
on steps to be taken to resolve it. This includes the action we
will take on the basis of the initial evidence provided and the
action we need you to take, such as completing incident diary
sheets for a certain number of days.
What we can do
We tackle anti-social behaviour in many different ways. We will
try to work with you, and where necessary other agencies, to solve
the problem.
What we do will depend on the type of anti-social behaviour, how
serious it is and how much evidence there is. We will tell you what
action we intend to take.
Working with the police and local authorities is really
important in effective enforcement action and we invest time into
developing our relationships with our partner agencies.
We usually try and resolve the compliant using one or more of
the non legal remedies listed below. These aim to support the
person in changing their behaviour to prevent further nuisance.
- Verbal or written warnings
- Traffic light warning system (see below)
- Mediation
- Acceptable behaviour contract
- Referral to specialist support agencies
- Good neighbour agreements
In most cases this is enough to improve the behaviour. Where the
behaviour continues or the situation is very serious we will take
prompt legal action. This may include:
- Injunction
- Application for demotion of tenancy
- Possession proceedings
- Dispersal order, lead agency the Police
- Closure order, lead agency the Police
- Anti-social behaviour order
- Eviction (this option is always a very last resort)
We provide more details on the different legal remedies and how
we can use them in our fact sheet ‘the remedies for resolving
nuisance and anti-social behaviour’ (links to be added
shortly).
Why we may not be able to help you with your report of
anti-social behaviour
Sometimes it is not always possible for us to consider a
complaint as anti-social behaviour or bring an existing case to a
satisfactory conclusion. We will tell you if we are unable to help
you, as it would be unfair to raise your expectations.
Why
we may not be able to help you with reporting
ASB