Community Safety Partnership

South Ayrshire Antisocial Behaviour Strategy 2005 - 2008 - Summary

Mission Statement
South Ayrshire Community Safety Partnership and our community planning partners are fully committed to tackling antisocial behaviour to ensure that our communities are safe and attractive places where people want to live, work & play. We will foster a sense of pride, self belief and community spirit throughout South Ayrshire. By working together to find local solutions to the local problems presented by antisocial behaviour, we will be able to achieve a long term, sustainable and positive impact in our communities. In South Ayrshire we will work in partnership to achieve the following strategic outcomes :

Working in partnership to reduce the incidence of antisocial behaviour

Working in partnership to identify antisocial behaviour

Working in partnership to ensure young people are involved in the planning, developing and evaluation of services directly affecting them

Ensuring victims of antisocial behaviour are provided with the highest possible quality of advice, assistance & service

Working in partnership to promote the valuable contribution made by young people to our communities.

Taking action to ensure antisocial behaviour is dealt with quickly and effectively

Involving communities to ensure that they have an effective input into the development and implementation of initiatives to tackle antisocial behaviour

These outcomes cannot be delivered by a single agency alone. All require integrated action from a range of agencies and services.

What ‘Antisocial Behaviour’ means
The Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004 states that a person engages in antisocial behaviour if they :

act in a manner that causes or is likely to cause alarm or distress; or
pursue a course of conduct that causes or is likely to cause alarm or distress to at least one person not of the same household as them.

However, antisocial behaviour can mean different things to different people and can cover a range of behaviour - e.g.

Persistent troublesome behaviour by a small group of individuals in a local area, who perhaps dominate others and use minor damage to property, possibly at unsociable hours, as a means of intimidating other people
Rubbish thrown into gardens and pushed through letter boxes
Riding motorcycles on footpaths
Persistent abusive behaviour towards neighbours causing them fear or distress
Serious persistent bullying of children in public recreation grounds or on the way to school
Persistent nuisance and threatening behaviour as a result of substance or alcohol abuse

Behaviour regarded as acceptable by some can be seen as antisocial and unacceptable to others. Expectations of standards of behaviour can vary between communities, groups within communities and individuals.

Antisocial behaviour is not behaviour that is merely different, or that is the result of a medical or developmental condition. Therefore tolerance and awareness of other’s needs is an important part of tackling antisocial behaviour. (Safer Scotland - Scottish Government 2004)

For these reasons, the definition of antisocial behaviour has been left deliberately wide and flexible by the Act. In South Ayrshire the emphasis will be on prevention and will include developing local area profiles and consulting with local people to decide on the nature of problems in particular communities and the appropriate action to be taken

Preventing antisocial behaviour and tackling it at the earliest possible stage is the focus of South Ayrshire’s Antisocial Behaviour Strategy. Prevention is better than cure and voluntary or negotiated solutions are usually better than sanctions. (Guidance on Antisocial Behaviour Strategies – Scottish Government 2004) Therefore, all initiatives and actions taken to tackle antisocial behaviour will be progressed on this basis.

We have established an experienced and dedicated antisocial behaviour team

We will encourage people to report incidents and support them through the process

We will work in partnership with agencies and local communities to deliver what local communities need to improve community safety and reduce antisocial behaviour

We regularly raise awareness of tenancy obligations and being a good neighbour in our tenants' newsletters and in our tenants' handbook

We have set up street working to support young people

We will target 'hot spot' areas for action

We emphasis the importance of being a 'good neighbour' during the tenancy sign up process with new tenants

We will work with young people to increase the number of constructive and relevant activities available locally.

We will tackle behaviour that causes greatest public concern in our communities

We will provide a help and advice line for victims of antisocial behaviour.

We have established protocols to ensure information is shared effectively between partner agencies

We have set up Community Support Schemes in Wallacetwon, Ayr North and Girvan/Maybole.

We will have restructed community policing areas and increased the number of community constables

We will have Tenancy Support Services for tenants who may have difficulty sustaining a tenancy

Download the Full Version of South Ayrshire Antisocial Behaviour Strategy 2005 - 2008