WHG briefing to councillors leads to heated exchange of views on where ASB should be reported

by danielbarker on 25 August, 2016

On Tuesday night, I along with several other councillors attended a briefing from Walsall Housing Group on how they would be tackling anti-social behaviour in the future. Despite there being a number of positives to come out of the meeting, it will be remembered by attendees for a heated exchange of views over the subject of who particular acts of ASB should be reported to.

In particular, there was a disagreement over where cases involving people running businesses out of their own home should be reported to. According to WHG, such cases are not ASB, and should be reported to trading standards, although it was also admitted that as a breach of tenancy would be involved, WHG would get involved from this angle, but not handle it via their ASB officers. More than one councillor present expressed their consideration that such cases unreasonably affected the quality of neighbours’ lives. The definition of anti-social behaviour that WHG said they would be working to was:
‘Any behaviour by any individual or group that adverseley affects the quality of life of another person’.

I expressed the following views during the meeting, and ellaborated them to a WHG and a council officer after the meeting: Yes, all such cases should be dealt with by the most appropriate people whether it be the police or trading standards or someone else, but there is an attitude that we councillors have all come across from some public servents that really gets our backs up – ‘its not me gov’ – passing the buck! And who is better placed to quickly find the right number to phone when something needs reporting; a newly elected councillor (for instance) out on their patch with a mobile phone short on power or credit, or a public official sitting in an office with a list of helpful telephone numbers in front of them!

In my opinion, all people who deal with public services, whether at the council or WHG or elsewhere, should act like a one-stop shop when something is first reported. Yes, tell people who they should contact in future, but don’t fob people off; try to do the best to ensure their call is acted upon, and then inform the caller what actions have been taken and who will come back to them to report developments. Whenever someone is told who they need to contact in future, they should be provided with a telephone number or e-mail address. Bottom line is, they shouldn’t be ‘told off’ for reporting a situation to the ‘wrong’ people!

Its not rocket science, its basic customer service, and should be applied equally to everyone, whether they are a councillor or a member of the public.

Following my comments, a WHG officer spoke of creating a ‘crib sheet’ to provide councillors with contacts to phone when encountering different situations.

Dan Barker
Cllr for Short Heath

Content published and promoted by Roy Sheward on behalf of Dan Barker (Liberal Democrats) all at 144 Redhouse Lane, Walsall, WS5 0DB

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