What is Anti Social Behaviour (ASB)?
Team Bury use the following broad definition of ASB to determine the nature of our response to issues raised by members of the public:
"Any aggressive, intimidating or destructive activity that damages or destroys another person’s quality of life"
This definition allows us to intervene at the appropriate level to reported issues.
What can be done to resolve ASB?
Six Town Housing tackles ASB using frontline resources to deal with initial complaints including a team of specialist officers to facilitate actions on more serious or complex cases and those requiring legal action.
Team Bury (Bury Council, Six Town Housing and partner agencies) embraces the wide range of remedies that are available to local authorities and the Police to address ASB. There are a number of procedures that can be used to tackle incidences of ASB.
Some examples of these remedies are given below:
- Bury Council – Tenancy Agreement enforcements
- Community protection notices
- Civil injunctions
- Criminal behaviour orders (read an example of how we used a criminal behaviour order here)
- Closure orders (read an example of how we used a closure order here)
- Community triggers
- Public spaces protection orders
How to report ASB
Use our online form to report anti social behaviour.
On receipt of your report form you may be asked to complete diary sheets to evidence your report and establish an ongoing nuisance. After returning your diary sheets, we will contact you to discuss the ASB you are experiencing. The information you report will be sent to Six Town Housing. Any details you supply will be treated as confidential and will only be used in direct relation to work needed to resolve the problem.
Emergencies
If you witness or experience serious ASB or criminal activity that places you or your property in immediate danger, you should contact the police on 999.
Drug dealing
If you are experiencing problems with drug dealing, you can report this to Crimestoppers. Please follow the link for details of how to do this https://crimestoppers-uk.org
Not related to a council property
If your complaint does not relate to a council neighbourhood or property, you should contact Bury Council’s Community Safety Team on 0161 253 5000.
ASB incident diary sheet
If you decide to report ASB, you may be asked to complete an incident diary sheet.
It is very important that you complete diary sheets with as much information as possible to:
- establish exactly what has been happening and how this is affecting you.
- raise incidents of ASB with perpetrators when they are being visited/interviewed.
- produce witness statements should the anti social behaviour become serious enough to warrant legal action
Please note that if the decision is made to take perpetrators of ASB to court, you could be cross examined in court on the allegations you have made. If you have completed diary sheets, you will be able to use these to provide accurate and detailed information which will help you to be more confident under cross examination. We will support you to do this.
Mediation
We provide a mediation service for tenants involved in a dispute with their neighbours. Mediation can deal with complaints such as misunderstandings, noise, children, pets, car parking and boundary disputes.
The service is free, independent, impartial and confidential.
We understand that it may be inappropriate for you to sit down with your neighbour and talk about the problems. In a situation like this, ‘shuttle mediation’ is available. This means that the mediators will visit you individually and arrange an agreement without you both having to even see each other.
If you feel that you can sit down together, there is also ‘round table mediation’. This is where you would sit with your neighbour and a mediator and talk about the problems that you are experiencing. The mediator is there to lead the meeting and to draw up an agreement between the parties involved.
You must be aware that by engaging in the mediation process, you will be identified to those people who you are complaining about.
Contact us if you would like more information or want to consider mediation.
Nationally, 8 out of 10 cases are successfully resolved through mediation.