Agenda item

Councillor Andrew Retter attended the meeting as the petition organiser as those residents that had signed the petition were fearful of reprisals from those individuals that were displaying anti-social behaviour. 

Concerns and suggestions raised at the meeting included the following:

• When Zurich moved out of its offices, the car park had been left empty and open.  Young people had since been spending a lot of time in the car park and were displaying anti-social behaviour.  Residents had made a number of complaints about the behaviour to the Safer Neighbourhood Team;
• A number of years ago, there had been a dispersal zone in operation in the area but this was no longer in place;
• Councillor Retter had been in the area a while ago with a couple of residents and a police officer when they witnessed some young people playing football.  These young people then set fire to a pile of rubbish;
• Two mosquitoes had been installed in the Waukesha Building car park which were disturbing the young people and moving them on.  However, it was noted that one of the mosquitoes had been moved to face the ground which reduced its effectiveness;
• Two burly local residents had taken to going out in the evening to move the young people on and there were worries that this might progress to groups of vigilantes patrolling the streets; and
• The Council had fined a local pub for noise and anti-social behaviour incidents.

Councillor Douglas Mills listened to the concerns of the petitioners and responded to the points raised.  It was noted that there were a limited number of temporary CCTV cameras available – four that would fit onto large lampposts and two that would fit the smaller ones.  The need for CCTV in this area was not as great as in other areas where the problems were worse.  As such, Councillor Mills advised that a temporary CCTV camera could be installed but that no definite timescales could be applied as to when this was likely to be. 

In addition, consideration was being given to the erection of fencing around the Zurich car park and the gate being locked as an added deterrent to stop the young people from congregating there. 

Councillor Mills advised that the Council would be reliant on the Safer Neighbourhood Team to identify anyone displaying anti-social behaviour. Although the police were currently stopping these young people when they were caught, they were not being referred to Early Intervention Panels so that they could be given Acceptable Behaviour Contracts. 

RESOLVED:  That the Cabinet Member noted the views of the petitioners, and advised that:

1. the LBH Community Safety Team will continue dialogue with the managing agents to encourage improvements to the car park area in Ferndown;

2. the Police Safer Neighbourhoods Team (SNT) has been requested to patrol the area in the evenings and, from time to time, after 11pm;

3. the Police will advise youths not to play football in the car park area, and take a robust stance to stop the playing of football in this area as it annoys residents;

4. a mosquito unit has been supplied to Waukesha Bearings and has been installed in the covered car park area to deter young people from going there;

5. the Police SNT has identified of some of the youths causing anti-social behaviour warning letters have been sent to the youth’s parents;

6. if evidence is available against any individual offenders, full consideration will be given to prosecution, fixed penalty notices, Anti-Social Behaviour Orders or other suitable enforcement or preventative measures;

7. a temporary wireless CCTV installation fixed to a lamp post for a period of 3 months can be considered; and

8. residents should continue to report incidents to the Police on 0300 123 1212 or the Community Safety Team via 0800 694 0240 (for non-crimes) to build up a picture of whether incidents are increasing or decreasing.

Reasons for recommendation

To address the concerns of the residents. 

Alternative options considered

The possibility of fixed permanent CCTV has been considered but discounted.  The costs are considerable and, when installing cameras, we have to consider necessity, proportionality and the likelihood of intrusion into the privacy of people not connected with the disorderly behaviour. This is an obstacle in this instance.  The deployment of temporary CCTV would enable an assessment to be made as to whether the problem is a temporary one, capable of resolution, which would avoid some of the problems associated with a permanent installation.