Margot James MP has welcomed new powers to tackle anti-social behaviour. The Government has published new plans to ensure victims of anti-social behaviour should have crimes they report acted on immediately.

Complex red tape will be trimmed to give police and other local agencies relevant, lasting and efficient powers to deal with problems.

Official figures from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) show that 68 per cent of people reporting anti-social behaviour to police have done so more than once, usually regarding the same problem. It was also found that some people do not report is at all as they have little faith in anything being done.

Local police and other agencies will be given a set of six new flexible powers to make the message clear that anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated. These powers will fall under the following categories: Criminal Behaviour Order; Crime Prevention Injunction; Community Protection Notice; Community Protection Order (Public Space); Community Protection Order (Closure); and Directions Powers.

For the first time, victims who feel their problems are not being taken seriously enough will have the right to force action through a newly-introduced Community Trigger, which will force police, councils and agencies to act if five households made a complaint.

Margot said, “Anti-social behaviour can blight the lives of hard working people who play by the rules, but this crime often goes unreported because the existing measures to deal with it simply don't work. I have worked with residents near Wychbury Park now for some five years to try to help them deal with the terrible anti-social behaviour they have had to put up with. These kind of offences should be able to be dealt with in months, not years. So hopefully the new powers announced by the Government will give our local police and agencies the tools they need to stamp out anti-social behaviour for good.”