Findings of antisocial behaviour investigation to go before Hartlepool leaders

During 2019/20 Hartlepool Borough Council Audit and Governance Committee completed an extensive piece of work looking at antisocial behaviour in the town.

The aim of the investigation was to understand the true impact and cost of antisocial behaviour on communities and explore where and how prevention and intervention services could potentially be improved.

The final report on the topic will now be going before all councillors at the next full council meeting of Hartlepool Borough Council on October 20.

The report has already been before the Safer Hartlepool Partnership in September and its recommendations approved subject to receipt of a detailed action plan for their implementation.

The action plan is to be drawn up and considered by the Safer Hartlepool Partnership in November and implementation of the recommendations is to be monitored on a 6 monthly basis.

Cllr Ged Hall, chair of the audit and governance committee, told the partnership last month the investigation highlighted issues such as the importance of reporting incidents, educating residents and the role of the community safety team.

He said: “I don’t want this report lying on a shelf, or indeed on the Cloud, it’s a working document to be referred and consulted by the authority and partners in the public sector, and indeed the voluntary sector.”

Work for the investigation was carried out by collaborating with partners, receiving presentations from a variety of organisations and experts, drop-in sessions, town wide surveys and more.

Speaking when approving the draft final report, councillors on the audit and governance committee stressed the importance of getting the message out on the importance of tackling antisocial behaviour.

They also urged Hartlepool to use everything it has to help tackle antisocial behaviour after the investigation into the issue.

In carrying out the investigation councillors were ‘shocked’ to find over the period between April 2016 and March 2019 the rate of antisocial behaviour per 1,000 population in Hartlepool was 61.

This represented a ‘significant increase’ on the North East rate and was ‘distressingly’ three times the national figure.

However findings did note antisocial behaviour reports across all categories had fallen during this period.

The full council meeting will be taking place from 6pm on Tuesday, October 20, and will be streamed live on the ‘Hartlepool Council meeting videos’ YouTube channel.

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