Gloucester City Council gets tough on nuisance behaviour

Gloucester City Council is getting tough on begging, drinking or taking legal highs on the street as part of a new policy to cut down on anti-social behaviour.

While the council will always provide support for those who are genuinely in need, action needs to be taken against those who are there to dupe unsuspecting shoppers or cause anti-social behaviour. Various agencies across the city have received complaints of begging in the city centre, as well as concerns raised regarding rough sleeping.

Multi-agency working has identified that many of those begging in the city centre are not homeless, and agencies are aware that some people travel to Gloucester to beg. The city council now wants to tackle this head on by introducing the safe and attractive streets policy. The policy sets out how the council will take a three-pronged approach – engage, support, enforce – to target persistent offenders and work with identified individuals. Where support isn’t successful, the council will look to enforce against persistent issues through civil litigation which is legally binding.

The council and partner agencies have also proactively identified street drinking and the use of so-called “legal highs” as potential issues, and have included these in the policy so that they can be responded to effectively in future if needed. The Psychoactive Substances Act has now come in to force and is incorporated in to this policy.

Businesses, residents and visitors have been raising their concerns to the council about the number and behaviour of many individuals in the city centre.

Individuals identified in this way will either be instructed to stop behaving in a certain way or ordered to seek support, for example for drug abuse, or face enforcement by the police.

However, the council, alongside partners hope that by engaging effectively with individuals, support will be successful in stopping anti-social behaviour and no further enforcement action will be needed.

Enforcement will be for individual cases and may include those who persistently beg in and around the city centre, but aren’t homeless and already receive financial support, or those who drink or use legal highs on the street.

Cllr Jennie Dallimore, cabinet member for communities and neighbourhoods, said: “The city council is committed to helping those genuinely in need and will continue to do so. Sadly, in this day and age, there are people who think it is more beneficial to use people’s generosity and beg for money when they already have a home and receive financial support.

“In these instances, we will be taking action to stop them through injunctions and other enforcement actions.”

Steve Wood, local policing inspector, said: “A number of agencies are working together in response to residents’ concerns about begging and other issues in the city centre, and the Police are re-introducing City centre patrols as an integral part of this. We recognise that these are complex issues and that support is essential where people are genuinely homeless or in need. However, there also needs to be an element of action taken against those who refuse support that is available to them or receive support but still continue to cause problems.”

The city council is encouraging those who are concerned about begging or potential rough sleepers to use the StreetLink app to report individuals that they see on the street. StreetLink provide outreach and support to those on the streets and help to get them in to accommodation if this is needed. You can also report concerns about someone sleeping rough athttp://www.streetlink/org.uk/.

The proposal will be discussed by Gloucester City Council cabinet tomorrow.

Gloucester News Centre – http://gloucesternewscentre.co.uk