Local councils granted new powers under new government action plan

Announced today, the Prime Minister has outlined new plans to tackle anti-social behaviour including allowing councils to quickly sell old, abandoned and empty establishments.

At the beginning of the year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to clamp down on anti-social crimes – offences that cause harassment, alarm, or distress to another person. Launched today, the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, which can be read in full here, will deliver a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of anti-social behaviour and give the police and local authorities the tools they need to tackle the problem.

Under the plan councils will be given a new power that enables them to quickly sell old, empty shops to stop criminals from gathering in them to take part in drug use and other anti-social crimes.

In addition to helping councils rid their areas of crime by allowing them to make use of empty stores, parks and green spaces will also be restored with up to £5m to make them safer with new CCTV and repairing equipment and playgrounds, and to plant more trees and flowers.

Nitrous Oxide, otherwise known as ‘laughing gas’ will also be banned to stop gangs that hang around children’s parks and high streets who little the empty canisters. The drug is now the third most-used among 16-24 year olds in England and both the police and public have repeatedly reported links between use of the drug and nuisance or anti-social behaviour.

The government have also announced that landlords and housing associations will be able to evict unruly tenants who disrupt their neighbours’ lives through persistent noise or by being drunk and disorderly.

Commenting on his new plan, Mr Sunak said: ‘Anti-social behaviour undermines the basic right of people to feel safe in a place they call home.

‘The public have rightly had enough – which is why I am determined to restore people’s confidence that those responsible will be quickly and visibly punished.

‘This action plan maps put how we will tackle the issue with the urgency it deserves and stamp out these crimes once and for all – so that wherever you live, you can feel safe in, and proud of your community.’

However, although the majority of measures announced are welcomed by local authorities, there is one new rule that has cast controversy. Under the Action Plan, Rishi Sunak has claimed people who are begging on the streets will be asked to move on.

Eleanor Watts, from The Riverside Group, a housing association in Greater Manchester, said: ‘Simply Moving people on doesn’t solve the problem. In our experience it is engagement, not enforcement, that achieves lasting results.’

The Riverside Group have previously helped run Manchester City Council’s Street Engagement Hub, which has brought 15 organisations together under one roof to create a ‘one-stop shop’ that provides physical and mental support for drug and alcohol addicts.

‘The Street Engagement Hub in Manchester takes a fresh approach to tackling this issue. It has been a phenomenal success and is changing lives every day,’ Eleanor Watts said. ‘Between January and November last year the hub helped 786 people. Experience teaches us that there is no one cause of homelessness, no one cause of begging, and no simple solutions.’

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