The UK government has released an Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour across England and Wales. The plan is designed to take a zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour and improve the tools available to police and other agencies to discourage it. The plan includes a range of measures such as increasing the use of hotspot policing, launching a new Immediate Justice service, and giving communities more of a say over reparation.

One of the key goals of the plan is to make sure that anti-social behaviour is treated with the urgency it deserves. The plan includes dedicated funding to support Police and Crime Commissioners to target enforcement in the areas where anti-social behaviour is most prevalent in their communities. The government aims to roll out hotspot enforcement across all police forces in England and Wales by 2024. Perpetrators of anti-social behaviour will also be made to repair the damage they inflict on victims and communities!

The plan also aims to change laws and systems to take a zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour, including cracking down on illegal drugs that blight communities and organised and harmful begging. The government plans to ban nitrous oxide, also called laughing gas, to put an end to intimidating groups of young people littering local parks with empty cannisters. New laws to replace the Vagrancy Act will enable the police and councils to direct individuals to engage with the support they need, prohibit organised begging by criminal gangs, and address street activity so public spaces are clear of debris and paraphernalia.

The plan also seeks to give the police and other agencies the tools they need to discourage anti-social behaviour, including higher on-the-spot fines, investment in positive activities for young people, and regenerating local parks. The upper limits of on-the-spot fines will be increased to £1,000 for fly-tipping and £500 for litter and graffiti. One million extra hours of youth support will be made available in anti-social behaviour hotspots, and councils will have stronger means to revitalize communities, including bringing more empty shops on high streets back into use and restoring local parks.

The plan includes a range of measures aimed at improving the tools available to police and other agencies to discourage anti-social behaviour, changing laws and systems to take a zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour, and giving communities more of a say over reparation.

I think many communities would say this can't be plemented soon enough!

A link to the full policy document can be found here.