14 11 2005

No apologies for absence had been received.

 

 

 

 

RESOLVED: That Councillor Philpott be elected as Chairman of the Sub Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year.

 

 

 

 

RESOLVED:  That Councillor Carr be elected Vice Chairman of the Sub Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year.

 

 

There were no declarations of interest.

 

 

 

 

RESOLVED: That the Terms of Reference for the Sub Committee be noted as follows:

 

(i)  To assist the Council and other agencies in the development of strategies and policies and initiatives to deal with anti-social behaviour; and

 

(ii)  To monitor the effectiveness of the strategies, policies and initiatives in tackling anti-social behaviour.

 

 

(i)  Report by Councillor Davis

 

Councillor Davis had requested that the Sub Committee considered the introduction of  restriction on drinking alcohol in public places and presented a report, outlining proposals for introducing alcohol free zones in the Borough.

 

The report highlighted the powers available to local authorities, under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, and the use of Designation Orders for specific public areas.  It was generally acknowledged that the police would welcome more powers to enable enforcement of convictions, arrest of offenders and/or being able to issue fixed penalty notices.

 

There were no provisions for ‘blanket’ bans.  The local authority must obtain evidence that an area had anti-social nuisance or behaviour associated with it.  Members commented that there was the possibility of ‘perceived’ rather than ‘actual’ problems.

 

Alcohol related crime and disorder had become an increasing problem in Gosport in a number of areas of the Borough and Councillor Davis suggested a combination of solutions and best practice models to deal with the problems.

 

The Sub Committee debated the issues involved and were of the view that they should undertake an evidence gathering exercise, concentrating on three specific areas of the Borough, namely, Falkland Gardens, Ann’s Hill Cemetery and Alverstoke Village.

 

As part of the investigation, the Sub Committee reasoned that at some point they should invite representatives from the community to attend a meeting in order to hear their views and evidence of problems arising as a result of alcohol consumption in public places; the representatives might include local residents living in the areas concerned, the police, accredited community safety officers, taxi operators, PubWatch, ClubWatch etc.

 

The Sub Committee also considered that the Ward Councillors for the proposed areas of investigation should be consulted, seeking their views and the concerns of local residents and businesses.

 

Councillor Davis was thanked for his informative report.  Members then considered how they could progress the investigation and what actions were needed.

 

RESOLVED:  That

(a)  consideration be given to the introduction of alcohol free zones in the following areas of the Borough:

                         (i)    Falkland Gardens

                         (ii)   Ann’s Hill Cemetery; and

                         (iii)  Alverstoke Village

 

(b)  in respect of (a) above, Ward Councillors be consulted and, following responses received, consider future actions and investigation to be pursued;

 

(c)  Meetings of the Sub Committee be arranged for dates in January and March 2006 and thereafter dates for future meetings be included in the Council’s cycle of meetings for the Municipal Year.

 

(ii)  Request from Councillors Edgar and Hayward for consideration of the introduction of an alcohol free zone in Alverstoke Village

 

RESOLVED:  That consideration of Alverstoke Village being designated an alcohol free area be included in the investigations being undertaken as indicated in Minute No. 6 above.

 

 

The Crime and Disorder Strategy had been adopted earlier in the year and contained six areas relating to anti social behaviour that would be targeted for reduction or resolution:

 

o       To reduce the incidence of criminal damage by 20% over the next 3 years and to increase detection by 16%;

o       To reduce secondary arson by 10%;

o       To reduce nuisance behaviour;

o       To resolve ongoing neighbourhood disputes referred to the Community safety Partnership;

o       Reduce 90% of fly tipping within 24 hours of receiving report;

o       To reduce the numbers of abandoned vehicles in the Gosport area.

 

The Chairman reported that the Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee had tasked the Sub Committee to keep a watching brief on the Strategy and Members were requested to consider how they wished to monitor targets in the document in respect of anti-social behaviour.

 

The Sub Committee discussed perception of crime, definition of nuisance behaviour, different interpretations of measuring targets, performance and achievement of priorities.  Some areas still required clarification, both in definition and what aspects/elements would be measured.  Statistics were produced by the police on various incidents of crime and regular returns on actions and targets in the Strategy were required by the Home Office and the Government Office of the South East (GOSE) and Hampshire County Council (LPSA 2).

 

The Sub Committee commented that if alcohol was the cause of some of the crimes there was a correlation with anti-social behaviour and maybe there should be a mechanism for reporting to Members of the Sub Committee for awareness.  Members expressed an interest in understanding the police policy for responding to crime and reported incidents.

 

The Head of Economic Regeneration reported that, in order to measure the perception of the community in respect of anti social behaviour, questions could be included in the next Residents’ Panel survey and responses in 2005/6 would be compared with the responses received to the same questions posed in 2003.

 

RESOLVED:  That

(a) a review of performance over the first year, in connection with targets identified in the Gosport Crime and Disorder Strategy, be submitted to the Sub Committee in March/April 2006 and thereafter a progress report on attainment be submitted every six months.

 

 

 

The Sub Committee considered the development of a work programme.  Members had earlier in the meeting agreed to investigate alcohol problems in the Borough and to monitor elements of the Crime and Disorder Strategy.

 

Discussion ensued on how best to undertake a review the issues and perception of anti social behaviour and how the problems might be overcome, in a structured way, to produce recommendations for solutions.

 

The Sub Committee decided that, at some point, they might wish to invite officers from various business units to attend a meeting to discuss their unit’s involvement with issues of anti social behaviour, especially those areas that would integrate with the work of the Sub Committee.

 

The Sub Committee expressed an interest in preventative work and felt it would be valuable to explore the perception of anti social behaviour with young people (Youth Council/schools), older people, the police and other local agencies.

 

The Chairman referred to a pilot scheme operating in Bridgemary involving a concentration of ‘Beat Officers’ and suggested that it would be informative to receive an update of the project from the Police, say, in March 2006.

 

Members commented that it would assist their understanding of anti social behaviour problems if information could be provided on a regular basis on the cost of criminal damage, quantified cost of vandalism, removal of graffiti, and  trends and types of anti social behaviour incidents, together with related costs.

 

RESOLVED:  That the Sub Committee’s work programme includes the following aspects for scrutiny of anti social behaviour in the Borough:

 

(a)  investigation of alcohol consumption in public places;

 

(b)  to monitor elements of the Crime and Disorder Strategy;

 

(c) invite officers from various business units of the Council to a future meeting to discuss issues of anti social behaviour relating to their services;

 

(d)  explore the views and perception of young people (Youth Council/

schools); 

 

(e)  receive an update from the Police on Bridgemary ‘beat officer’ initiative;

 

(f)   receive information relating to anti social behaviour incidents, together with related costs, on a regular basis from the Anti Social Behaviour Co-ordinators/Head of Community Safety.

 

 

 

RESOLVED:  That meetings be arranged for dates in January and March 2006 and thereafter four meetings be scheduled into the cycle of meetings for the next Municipal Year.