Agenda item

            (Mr. P. Murray, Antisocial Behaviour Co-ordinator, attended in connection with this item.)

 

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

 

“1.    Relevant Background Information

 

         The purpose of this report is to:

 

·        Provide an overview of antisocial behaviour (ASB) incidents across parks and leisure facilities and electoral area;

·        Update committee on the activities, interventions and future developments of the ASB programme

 

         The ASB programme contributes to the achievement of the departmental vision of ‘providing quality parks, open spaces and leisure environments that people value and use’. In particular, it delivers on the departmental objective of providing programmes and services to make people feel safer. The objectives of the ASB programme are to:

 

·        enhance the environment around Parks and Leisure facilities;

·        develop education initiatives involving creative or supportive interventions to model acceptable behaviour around Parks and Leisure facilities;

·        define enforcement as a deterrent against infraction of bye-laws or legislation; and

·        develop sustainable interagency and inter-departmental networks and leading a partnership approach to reducing antisocial behaviour.

 

         The ASB Coordinator prioritises action and expenditure by collating evidence gathered through ASB incident reports. This information is used to inform a coordinated partnership response, drawing on council resources, the support of local community resources, PSNI and the Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP).

 

2.      Key Issues

 

2.1 Trends in the available ASB incident data:

         The comparative data outlined on Table 1 below shows an increase in the number of incident reports of ASB in parks between April to July 2012 and April to July 2013 within the 4 electoral areas of Laganbank, Oldpark, Pottinger and Balmoral. The data highlights a downward trend in the number of reports of ASB in parks within the Court electoral area. Evidence suggests that the increase in the number of incident reports of ASB in parks are attributed to the following reasons:

 

·        Increase in reports of groups gathering and an increase in reports of drinking; and

·        Increase in the number and use of the park warden resource

o     Transfer of 8 Community Safety Wardens

o     Staff resources deployed more regularly due to the significant increase of visitors during the exceptional summer weather (particularly within Botanic Gardens).

 

 

 

 

Table 1: Comparison of the number of ASB incidents in Parks and Leisure Facilities across electoral areas between April to July 2012 and April to July 2013
April to July 2012		April to July 2013
Electoral Area	Total ASB	Electoral Area	Total ASB
Balmoral	46	Balmoral	109
Castle	36	Castle	62
Court	73	Court	45
Laganbank	61	Laganbank*	751
Lower Falls	7	Lower Falls	16
Oldpark	92	Oldpark	180
Pottinger	39	Pottinger	114
Upper Falls	98	Upper Falls	105
Victoria	3	Victoria	18
Total	455	Total	1400

 

         *There is a spike in the figures recorded specifically at Botanic Gardens by newly deployed wardens.  Training is being undertaken to standardise recording practices.

 

2.2 ASB in park and leisure facilities

         The data presented illustrates a snapshot of the parks with more than 20 ASB incidents recorded between April and July 2013. The data details the numbers and percentages of ASB recorded within 11 parks and across 6 electoral areas, the hotspot categories of ASB and the specific interventions planned to tackle ASB.

 

2.3 Planned Interventions

         Planned intensive interventions have been designed and introduced for parks that have more than 20 ASB incidents and/ or repeated occurrences of ASB. These planned interventions span across all 4 objectives of the ASB programme: education, enforcement, partnership and environment and involve dedicated resources through scheduled enforcement operations in partnership with existing council services or with the PSNI and/or the environmental and physical development of a site.  The Department has introduced a bespoke planned interventions designed for the 11 parks with more than 20 ASB incidents across 6 electoral areas. 

 

         Planned interventions have also been designed for parks that experience repeated occurrences of ASB and are linked to the ASB programme objective of education, including:

 

·        Musgrave Park: A fence has been installed to protect the therapy gardens from ASB attacks.  Currently exploring options with regards to the introduction of a youth space – Young Adult Association (YAA) area;

·        Falls Park & Botanic Gardens: Young Adult Association (YAA) areas are currently being developed to provide a suitable supervised location for active leisure and young adult activity. The parks will host a number of family friendly events and activities during Halloween and Spring;

 

2.4 Citywide interventions

         Non intensive responses and interventions are implemented proportionately across all of the city’s parks.  This approach is used to tackle low level, re-occurring ASB incidents (parks with less than 20 incidents) and is delivered using existing and available resources. Available existing resources will be used to tackle the following:

 

·        Reports of ‘Drinking’: the Park Wardens will visit the park to establish the extent of the issue and remove drinkers if present during park operational hours (dawn to dusk). Requests will be sought from the PSNI to monitor the site out of hours;

·        Reports of ‘Groups and gangs gathering’: Park Wardens will define whether the groups and gangs are of serious concern or simply gathering in the park. If there are serious concerns then Park Wardens will assess if the groups can be engaged and safely dispersed using available resources. If not, then they will refer the issue to the PSNI and monitor the site until it is closed;

·        Reports of ‘Litter’ and ‘Animal problems’: Park Wardens will be scheduled to issue fixed penalty notices through enforcement operations during park operational hours of dawn to dusk when resources permit;

·        Reports of ‘Damage’: Park Managers and supervisors will record and repair any damage. If the damage persists then specific operations will be developed to tackle the issue with the PSNI;

·        Reports of ‘Motorcycles’: All reports of motorcycles in parks are shared with PSNI and if the problem persists then operations will be developed to tackle the issue with the PSNI;  and

·        Reports of ‘Youths causing annoyance’: Park Managers, Park Wardens and Outreach Managers will work with the community to identify the causes of these reports and find appropriate activities to engage the young people in.

 

         Each individual park has its own unique visitor demographics, unique attributes and unique operational routines, all interventions and responses will be planned and designed accordingly. 

 

2.5 Citywide ASB programme development

         Alongside the intensive and non intensive interventions planned to the tackle reported incidents of ASB, a number of citywide ASB programmed developments will be implemented to manage data capture, incident reporting and responding to ASB.

 

·        The current Park Warden resource will continue to receive appropriate training to ensure that there is a consistent service delivered across the city;

·        Park Wardens visit parks regularly as they follow their scheduled daily work plan; they are currently engaged in a Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) training and coaching programme. In the near future, they will be deployed in parks as part of an enforcement programme. They will issue fixed penalties in relation to litter and dog fouling offences.

·        Internal systems are currently being developed to assist Park Wardens in the consistent collection of incident reports. Following an analysis of incident recording, a methodology will be developed to provide consistent standards of ASB data collection and reporting.

·        A review of Park Warden allocation and deployment will support ongoing and proportionate deployment of staff resources

·        A review of ASB responses and interventions will inform how the department links with local area working groups and informs the District Policing and Community Safety Partnership (DPCSP) structure.

·        It is intended that the ASB programme will establish sustainable synergies and interfaces with local area working groups that will develop more appropriate responses to ASB.

 

         Members will be briefed regarding the outcomes of the ASB citywide programme development.

 

3.      Resource Implications

 

         The development of the programme will be facilitated through the agreed ASB budget 2013/2014 which is approximately £250,000.

 

4.      Equality Implications

       

         Much of the ASB programme work spans activities related to reducing interface tensions and bringing young people together to take part in positive programmes and activities.  All of the programme work is delivered in line with the council’s equality and good relations policies and procedures.

 

5.      Recommendations

       

         Members are asked to note the contents of this report.”

 

            After discussion, during which a number of Members acknowledged the work which staff had carried out in addressing anti-social behaviour within departmental properties across the City, the Committee noted the contents of the report.

 

            It was noted also that officers from within the Department would monitor closely the locking of access gates to Council properties in order to deter groups from gathering after closing times.