Local housing association, Tai Ceredigion is continuing to take a firm approach to tackling antisocial behaviour in Ceredigion and to begin drawing up their new antisocial behaviour policy they held a seminar for tenants and partner organisations at Lampeter University last month.
Their new policy will take account of recent Welsh Government guidance and forthcoming changes to current law. Tai Ceredigion invited guest speakers from Dyfed Powys Police, Ceredigion Community Safety Partnership and the Welsh Tenants Federation to speak to tenants about all the different aspects involved with antisocial behaviour and preventative and reactive approaches.
Since taking over the county council’s housing stock in 2009, Tai Ceredigion has been following the council’s previous ASB policy and has taken strict action by issuing 7 court injunctions, 1 eviction (with a further one pending), 15 notices terminating tenancies and dealt with over 129 ASB cases since transfer.
Steve Jones, Chief Executive of Tai Ceredigion said “Here at Tai Ceredigion we take antisocial behaviour very seriously as one of the many promises made to tenants who transferred was that we would work with them to make safer communities. We are lucky to be living in one of the safest counties in England and Wales, but we must work hard to protect that. We have shown over the last eighteen months that we are not afraid of applying for court orders and injunctions to stop or prevent anti social behaviour; whether it is from our own tenants or from owner occupiers or private tenants living nearby. We employ an anti social behaviour specialist, who works closely with our tenants groups, the police, county council and other agencies”
Gwyn Thomas, Chief Superintendent of Dyfed Powys Police spoke at the seminar and said “We know that overall incidents of anti social behaviour are low in Ceredigion. However, we also know that when they do occur they can have a big impact on people’s lives, their wellbeing and their overall feeling of safety within their community. Dyfed Powys Police are leading the way in dealing with incidents that are reported, and it is wonderful to be able to work with Tai Ceredigion to help them develop their own anti social behaviour policy. It is only by working together we will be able to reduce the number of incidents of anti social behaviour even more, and consequently enhance the quality of life for people living, working and growing up and old in Dyfed and Powys.”
Eleri Jenkins, Tai Ceredigion’s Director of Housing and Support closed the seminar by saying “8% of our tenants reported antisocial behaviour during the last year and we want to make it easier for our tenants to come forward and talk to us rather than suffering in silence. We are looking into new tools and mechanisms for people to report cases to us which should be ready by the summer. Our next step now is to hold a series of meetings with our tenants and partners to draw up our new policy.”
