Agenda item

To consider a report on anti-social behaviour incidents in Staines-upon-Thames town centre and actions being taken by Surrey Police to deal with them.

Keith McGroary, Community Safety Manager reported there was a 19% increase in reports of crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Staines-upon-Thames town centre in 2016 – 2017 compared to the previous year. This was the first rise in ASB following a downward trend for the past nine years.

He said there were reports that visitors to the town felt intimidated by the presence of large groups of young people from the Traveller community who were often quite loud and drew attention to themselves. The fear of ASB from this group put people off visiting Staines-upon-Thames on a Sunday.

Although there were occasions when very small numbers of these young people had committed ASB or incidents of petty crime, they were often tarnished with the blame for all such incidents, when in fact local offenders not connected to any specific community group were committing them.

A number of measures had been taken to deal with the problem / perceived problem, including using an intermediary from the Traveller community to help resolve issues and enhance community cohesion, and allocating an additional police resource to patrol the town on a Sunday.

He reported that Surrey Police were introducing a 6 month pilot with a 3 pronged response to address the issues raised concerning ASB on a Sunday around Engagement, Enforcement and Education.

Inspector Sproston commented that Staines town centre had radically improved in the evenings compared to 14 years ago and enjoyed a successful and growing night time economy with many restaurants. He recognised that incidents of ASB had increased in the town centre, predominantly on a Sunday during the daytime and said the police were working to identify the cause of the problem.

He outlined the 3 pronged approach:

Engagement – with businesses: Inspector Sproston had agreed to sit on the board of the Business Improvement District to understand what the issues are and how best to deal with them; with security companies: extra training and devolved powers to enable them to deal with ASB.

Enforcement – already agreed additional resources in the town on Sundays

However, he believed that having too many uniformed officers in town would have a negative effect on behaviour. Everyone acting anti-socially in Staines would be treated the same.

Education - Working to change the mind-set of the community and businesses with regards their perception that this is a problem created solely by the Travelling Community, as research did not support this. A Sergeant who was himself a Traveller had agreed to sit on a Traveller forum to get people together and help break down barriers.

He invited the Committee to review the effectiveness of the pilot after six months by which time they hoped to have improved the situation in Staines.

Joanna Hall, Two Rivers Manager and board member of Staines-upon-Thames Business Improvement District (BID) said that the increase in ASB incidents last year were down to one young man, who had now moved away from the area. She acknowledged that the issues with Travellers in the town used to be a problem all day on a Sunday but since taking measures to address the problem had restricted it to later in the afternoon. She reported that none of the newly opened restaurants had employed door staff nor had they found a need to do so.

Ms Hall believed that ASB was generally well controlled and that the presence of police officers in the town on a Sunday had helped. The reality was that compared to 7 years ago, there were no longer incidents every Sunday but the perception remained and this needed to be addressed by way of further community engagement.

She told the Committee that the BID was committed to providing two Town Rangers on Sunday afternoons to act as ambassadors for the town and work in partnership with Surrey Police.

Members of the Committee remained concerned that ASB in Staines town centre on a Sunday had increased over the past ten years and was driving away residents. Councillors believed the residents’ fears were not unfounded and identified a gap in enforcement agencies operating on a Sunday to address the problems, as the Joint Enforcement Team only operated from Monday to Friday.

Resolved to:

1.    note the report;

2.    recommend to Cabinet that the Council give consideration to expansion of the JET team and further integration of the JET team with the police; and

3.      establish a Task and Finish group incorporating key partners, to further review the effectiveness of the multi-agency response to anti-social behaviour, improving community engagement and increasing footfall in Staines town centre on Sundays.