Arson, off-road vehicles and drugs targeted by team working to reduce antisocial behaviour in Hartlepool

Hartlepool Borough Council chiefs said a multi-agency working group has been set up to help tackle antisocial behaviour, with another arranged to address fly-tipping.

It comes as part of an action plan drawn up to look to clampdown on the issues in Hartlepool.

The Audit and Governance Committee heard an update on the steps being taken after making their own recommendations on what can be done, following an investigation on preventing antisocial behaviour last year.

Sylvia Pinkney, council assistant director for regulatory services, said the first meeting of the working group to tackle antisocial behaviour took place in January and several key areas were identified.

She said: “It was well attended, and they have identified three priority areas themselves which they want to work on, problems with off-road vehicles, drugs and fire setting.

“The group that has been set up in relation to fly-tipping has had two meetings and they are currently exploring a range of issues, and they are focusing their work around education, prevention and enforcement.

“What we’re trying to do is to get everybody that has an interest or involvement in these areas to get involved in the meetings.”

Councillors stressed the importance of involving schools and educating young people to help address antisocial behaviour from an early age.

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They also hailed the success of initiatives such as the Antisocial Behaviour Awareness Days (ASBAD) held in schools.

Cllr Brenda Harrison said: “We keep banging on the same drum really, I think a lot of schools have not engaged, and this is before Covid, with the programmes that are on offer.

“They’re really good programmes, I think all children should be privy to them. I know we can’t make it mandatory but it should be really stressed that it is a very important part of their education from primary up to secondary.”

Cllr Brenda Loynes added she had been to the ASBAD events in the past and they are ‘fantastic’.

She said: “It was amazing how it was put across to the children, it’s done in a serious-but-fun way, and I think it should be continued throughout the junior schools as well, not just senior schools.

“There’s different classrooms that deal with different areas of antisocial behaviour, it’s really good.”

Ms Pinkey noted they will not be able to run ASBAD sessions as usual this year due to Covid-19, but some elements of it may be implemented with virtual resources.

She said: “Unfortunately we don’t believe we’ll be able to run ASBAD this way this year because of the circumstances.

“But I have been having some discussions with the team to see if we can do some of that in a virtual way, which might be the other option for us to look at moving forward.”

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