16/10/00

Lib Dems call on Cabinet to Tackle growing tide of anti-social behaviour

Liberal Democrat Councillors are calling on the Conservative Administration to tackle the rising tide of anti-social behaviour in the Borough by implementing tough new measures in the form of the highly successful Agreed Behaviour Contracts scheme piloted by Liberal Democrat Controlled Islington Council.

Cllr Tricia Bamford has made the call following the failure of the governments Anti Social Behaviour Orders, as was admitted recently when it was revealed that, despite the problems being all too apparent, not one has been implemented here in Kingston. Unlike ASBO's the ABC scheme has proven a massive success and may well prove the answer in many cases here in Kingston.

The contracts are a partnership between the Council, local Police, the local Health Authority and the Probation Service. They are aimed at tackling such problems as threatening behaviour and harassment, racist behaviour, graffiti and criminal damage. ABC's can take only days to introduce as opposed to months for ABSO's.

Commenting on the initiative Cllr Tricia Bamford said

"The blight of anti-social behaviour is making some places no go areas for law abiding people and is incredibly detrimental to the lives of many of our residents. Something has to be done and despite the hard and dedicated work of the Youth Offending Team, Police and Council Officers the anti social behaviour orders do not allow them to take a pro-active role in improving the situation merely a rather limp reactive one. That is why the Liberal Democrats are calling for the introduction of the ABC scheme here in Kingston as quickly as possible.

We are encouraged by the Cabinet Secretaries willingness to look at implementing the scheme here in Kingston and will be following progress on this very carefully."

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