Anti-social behaviour and reviews
Contents
- Anti-social behaviour and safe streets
- Anti-social behaviour case reviews
Anti-social behaviour and safe streets
Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a broad term that describes conduct affecting the quality of life and peaceful enjoyment of your home. This could include noise, abuse, harassment, drug or alcohol misuse, and inconsiderate use of shared spaces.
It's defined by law as 'behaviour by a person which causes, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to persons not of the same household'.
However, in some cases, activities may be classed as ASB if they cause nuisance and annoyance only.
Report it
Always call 999 if you or someone else is in immediate danger or if a crime is in progress. For non-urgent crimes please contact the police by calling 101 or by reporting it online.
Anti-social behaviour may include the following:
- aggressive begging
- drug abuse
- gangs
- harassment, intimidation and threatening behaviour both verbal and physical
- hate crime
- illegal or immoral use of a property
- neighbour nuisance
- youth ASB
- criminal damage (excluding graffiti)
Criminal offences should always be reported to the police.
If you live in social housing or council housing, contact your housing association or neighbourhood manager first. They can help with issues such as neighbour disputes, untidy gardens, boundary disagreements, noise nuisance and tenancy breaches.
Report noise complaints directly to our Environmental Health teams so they can investigate.
We will make certain that victims are at the centre of their response to anti-social behaviour by ensuring that:
- each complaint will be investigated and taken seriously
- all information you give us will be treated in confidence and in accordance with data protection legislation
- our staff will be trained to give you the correct advice
- a risk assessment will be completed to help identify vulnerable and repeat victims
- we will respond to high risk incidents within one working day
- we will respond to non high risk incidents within 5 day working days
- you will be informed who the lead organisation will be and be provided with appropriate support. The lead organisation will work with partners and other service providers where necessary
- you will have a single point of contact (SPOC) within the lead organisation dealing with your ASB issue and be provided with their contact details
- we will ideally resolve the complaint to your satisfaction, through the compliance of an agreed action plan produced with consideration of the full range of actions available
- we will support you in collecting evidence to enable positive action to be taken. We will regularly review this information and explain what action is to be taken and why
- we will keep you informed about your case and provide updates within timescales agreed with you
- we will contact you via telephone, text, e-mail, letter or in person as agreed with you
- we will monitor your satisfaction with the way we have dealt with your case
- the lead agency will ask the court for special measures for vulnerable or intimidated victims and witnesses where appropriate
- we will make a referral to the witness service if appropriate during criminal proceedings
- where appropriate, we will keep communities informed of what is happening within their neighbourhood through a range of means including street briefings, newsletters and leaflet distribution
- we will promote another route if you are not satisfied with the outcome
StreetSafe
Feeling unsafe
If you have concerns about a particular area, make sure you flag it through StreetSafe.
We use this information alongside other evidence gathered by the police to make decisions around community safety with our partners. This could include improved streetlighting, increased vigilance by community watch groups or additional patrols from neighbourhood policing teams.
Housing Anti-social behaviour policy
The policy for council housing aims to:
- tackle ASB promptly and effectively on our estates using appropriate and proportionate interventions
- protect residents, prevent ASB and promote sustainable communities
- encourage and develop partnership working with a variety of agencies in order to prevent and reduce ASB
- provide clear and consistent information about how we will respond to complaints of ASB
Last updated 30 May 2025