Agenda item

That the powers conferred by the Anti–Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to local authorities be delegated by Cabinet to (i) the Customer & Community Services directorate and (ii) the Regeneration, Housing & Resources directorate.

The Head of Consumer Protection & Business Compliance and the Community Safety Manager introduced a report setting out important new measures for tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) contained with the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

Members considered a change to the recommendation which was tabled to clarify the delegation of powers under the Act and were informed that it would come into force on 20^th October 2014.  The Act sought to place the victims of ASB at the centre of the response and it steam-lined the current ASB toolkit by consolidating the number of orders from 19 down to 6.  The key changes included the introduction of a new ‘Community Remedy’ utilising restorative justice to deal with low level crime and ASB and a ‘Community Trigger’ which imposed a duty on statutory partners to take action where victims made repeated complaints about ASB.

The way in which residents in Slough reported ASB would remain the same and communications activity would take place to ensure the new powers were properly understood.  Commissioners discussed the scope of the new orders in relation to issues such as littering and fly-tipping and felt the practical implementation of the powers would be the key to their effectiveness.

Resolved –  That the powers conferred by the Anti–social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to local authorities be delegated by Cabinet to (i) the Customer & Community Services directorate and (ii) the Regeneration, Housing & Resources directorate.