Anti-social behaviour

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is any activity that causes harassment, alarm or distress to members of the public.  

All our residents should feel safe, whether in public spaces or at home. We know anti-social behaviour is a serious problem, and can cause harassment, distress or alarm.

Anti-social behaviour can be:

• Drugs misuse, dealing and paraphernalia
• Street drinking and alcohol related nuisance and paraphernalia
• People being aggressive in public
• Verbal abuse
• Vehicle nuisance or inappropriate use
• Discriminative behaviour or hostile acts
• Misuse of communal or public space
• Public nuisance related to licensed premises
• Vandalism and damage to property and verbal abuse
• Garden nuisance (inappropriate activities in gardens)
• Pets and animal nuisance
• Rowdy or inconsiderate behaviour (This refers to general nuisance behaviour in a public place or a place to which the public have access, such as private clubs. It does not include domestic-related behaviour, harassment or public disorder which should be reported as crimes).
• Prostitution
• Begging or vagrancy
• Large groups behaving badly

What is not anti-social behaviour?

• Fly-tipping and rubbish left outside a neighbour’s property
• Neighbour complaints regarding residential property matters, for example location of waste receptacles, cooking smells, smoking and untidy gardens
• Disagreements and civil disputes between neighbours, for example over boundaries, fences or shared driveways, or between those living in the same property including houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs)
• Alcohol consumption in a public space that is not causing anti-social behaviour
• Animals fouling, rodent infestations and the normal feeding of birds
• Cooking smells
• Children playing ball games or playing in a public place or a garden
• Parking issues
• People who are homeless or rough sleeping, unless there is associated ASB such as begging, obstructing the pavement or causing a nuisance
• Cycling, skateboarding or riding of e-scooters
• Sporadic noise and talking from late-night revellers moving through public spaces
• Reasonable household living noise for example:
  • children running and playing
  • opening and closing cupboards
  • washing machines and toilets flushing
  • loud music, television, and loud conversations from the adjoining property
• Noise from emergency service vehicles.
• Noise from demonstrations: you can report this to the police.