Councils are frequently failing to use their powers to crack down on anti-social behaviour, a watchdog has found.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman criticised the failure of local authorities to act, saying incidents are too often left unchecked despite officers having “compelling evidence to justify taking enforcement action”.
Cases include a person complaining about a neighbour’s house party which lasted more than 13 hours.
The council’s response was its policy meant it would only consider taking action if the complainant recorded six incidents within 25 days.
Despite another similar incident a few weeks later, the council closed the case because it said it did not meet its criteria.
The ombudsman said the council’s policy was “too inflexible and did not accord with its duty to consider each case on its merits”.
In another case a man complained to his local council about a neighbour who left bagged dog faeces outside his kitchen window in a bin until collection day, shouted abuse at him, threw tennis balls at him and physically assaulted him.
The council said the behaviour was not anti-social but instead related to a private dispute between the pair and said the incidents should be reported to the police.
However the ombudsman said the council was at fault and should apologise, offer mediation, and “properly consider allegations of ASB (anti-social behaviour) rather than simply referring complainants to other bodies, such as the police”.
In a report published on Wednesday, the watchdog said it had upheld nearly three-quarters (74%) of the cases it has investigated in the past year.
These ranged from low-level issues such as dog fouling and inconsiderate parking to more serious sustained harassment and intimidation.
The report said: “The faults in these cases highlight a range of problems.
“There are sometimes long delays in councils responding to complainants, or acting on information they have received.
“We see cases where officers appear to lack the confidence to make decisions, despite having apparently compelling evidence to justify taking enforcement action – dragging matters out and leaving anti-social behaviour unchecked.
“We see councils referring people to the police, believing anti-social behaviour is purely a police matter and they have no duty to act. We also see examples where councils have accepted a case for investigation but failed to liaise properly with the police, or other agencies, despite there being an obvious benefit to information sharing.”
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Ombudsman Paul Najsarek said: “Councils in partnership with other agencies, when using their powers to the full, can have a profound effect on people’s quality of life – both in terms of taking action against perpetrators and providing support to victims.”
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association said: “Anti-social behaviour (ASB) can have a devastating impact on communities and individuals, and councils are committed to working with their partners and communities to prevent ASB and protect residents from offenders who can make the lives of the people they target a misery.
“Councils will always take a balanced and proportionate approach to using the tools at their disposal to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour and so it is vital all agencies – including the government – ensure all measures in the ASB Plan launched earlier this year are adequately resourced.”
Government measures unveiled in March include making offenders repair the damage they cause, “hotspot” enforcement patrols and an “immediate justice” scheme to speed up punishments.
