Call to end 'daily misery' anti-social behaviour

Sheffield residents are living through "daily misery" of anti-social behaviour in their communities, a councillor has claimed.

Fran Belbin, the city council's deputy leader and representative of the Firth Park ward, said victims were "unclear" who they should report issues to.

The issue was debated at a full council meeting on Wednesday after Belbin submitted a motion calling for more effective action to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB).

"We ask tenants to fill in paper diary sheets and then appear to take no action," said Belbin.

Douglas Johnson, who chairs the council's housing policy committee, said there were currently 847 open cases of ASB involving council tenants which are being investigated or actioned by housing officers.

Johnson said the average length of time the investigations had been ongoing for was 198 days.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the motion said victims "need clear pathways to report ASB, not a system where cases bounce between teams or stall without resolution".

Belbin said people living in communal blocks of flats "are living through the daily misery of noise, shouting, fighting and swearing coming through their walls, intimidating dogs in their communal areas that make them afraid to leave their flats, homes where drug dealing and sex work are taking place day and night so that neighbours are left feeling unsafe because their communal doors are being propped open or having their locks smashed off and where vehicles are constantly coming and going".

She added: "Sometimes they are coming across broken glass, drug paraphernalia and even faeces on the stairs."

Belbin said the council did not act quickly enough to resolve problems, adding: "We leave tenants unclear who they should report issues to – is it the police, is it neighbourhood officers, is it anti-social behaviour officers?"

"We must empower our tenants to report more easily. It shouldn't be hard to submit video evidence in this day and age."

Birley councillor Karen McGowan said it had taken 18 months to deal with a problem of young people taking drugs and causing ASB at Base Green shops and in the hallways of nearby flats.

The substantative motion put forward by Belbin was passed after both the Lib Dems and the Green Party submitted amendments.

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