ONE of the topics that comes up in my mailbag on a fairly frequent basis is that of anti-social behaviour.

This takes many forms and at its base has the general loutish and threatening behaviour of a minority of aggressive, but not exclusively, young men.

But it takes on a variety of other misdemeanours; drunken behaviour that is seen as joyous high jinks by the perpetrators but can be debilitating for those who have to suffer it on a regular basis; general bad behaviour by neighbours who seem oblivious to the fact that their behaviour in their own home destroys the lives of those who live near them; and, of course, all the way to participating in riots as we saw a couple of summers ago.

In response to this, the coalition has introduced a new Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill that started its passage through parliament, unchallenged, earlier this week.

There are a number of elements to this Bill, but essentially it is there to help the police serve the community better.

In many cases, the police are hampered by a number of illogical and unhelpful problems. This means that whilst the police are doing their best to do the right thing for us all, they are sometimes hampered by the way laws are written.

At the heart of the Bill is a change from ASBOs to IPNAs (Injunction to prevent nuisance and disorder).

ASBOs have been successful up to a point. They are used as negative orders, so they, for example, prevent people from going near an area. IPNAs have all that an ASBO has but also has a requirement for a positive action as well.

In addition, the definition of anti-social behaviour is broad and there is only a requirement that anti-social behaviour can be proved on a balance of probabilities, meaning it is easier to get a conviction.

In looking at the community as a whole, there will be new Community Protection Notices and Public Space Protection Orders. These will be there to enhance orders such as graffiti and fly posting removal orders are better enforced, as are orders to control public drinking.

And with regard bad neighbours, the Bill helps landlords both speed up the process of eviction of the most anti-social tenants and to give more flexibility to tackle tenants anti-social behaviour when away from home (such as rioting).

I know, from meeting with constituents who suffer the problem of anti-social behaviour, that this is a very serious problem indeed. This Bill will have its critics, but I do see that it comes a long way in addressing the problems that face people every day. That is why I am so pleased that it received unanimous support on Monday.

CONTACT YOUR MP

  • Email: mark.garnier.mp@ parliament.uk
  • Telephone: 020 7219 7198 or 01562 746771.
  • Write: 9a Lower Mill Street, Kidderminster, DY11 6UU, or House of Commons, Westminster, London