It is ASB Awareness Week, and I hope you’ve been able to get along to one of the many events we’ve been hosting to chat to us and our partners about issues in your local area and find out how we’re tackling it.
A launch event at Broad Street Mall on Monday gave residents the chance to meet representatives of the police, Council, fire service, trading standards and housing and energy support, to talk to frontline officers about any anti-social behaviour issues or concerns they have, and find out what initiatives are being undertaken to combat these.
We’ve also been hosting daily Love Your Neighbourhood events, where we come out into your local communities so you can meet officers, find out what we’re doing with our partners in your local area and chat about anti-social behaviour. So far this week we’ve held these to cover Coley, Kentwood, Norcot, Tilehurst and Southcote wards, with Caversham, Redlands and Whitley Wood still to come.
These community engagement events are vital to addressing anti-social behaviour in Reading to make it a better place to live for everybody, because you are instrumental in helping us decide what courses of action are needed, and where we need to invest resources in future to meet your needs.
Nearly a thousand of you completed our Community Safety Survey in the summer, on behalf of Reading’s Community Safety Partnership, inviting residents to have their say on safety and help shape continuing changes to make it a safer place to live. The results were revealed last week, showing an impressive 5% increase in the number of residents who feel Reading is a safe place to live, up from 45% to just over 50%.
However, 58% said they still felt that antisocial behaviour (ASB) had increased in the past year. This is a common theme across most towns and cities, and is why we continue to work hard to reduce ASB locally, in close partnership with organisations such as Thames Valley Police, to encourage residents to report ASB so actions can be identified and taken.
Examples of successes this year which were the direct result of reports being made to the Council by residents include the removal of phone boxes along the Oxford Road which were being used for drug dealing, and tidying up a corner of Kensington Park and removing a mattress there which was being used for rough sleeping and a focal point for people gathering.
Reporting what you see is a vital starting point to help us tackle such issues. Thanks to complaints of motorbike nuisance we’ve been able to take legal action against tenants at a property in Kentwood ward, and your concerns about drug related activity in Tilehurst triggered an investigation that led to a closure order being put on a property in Tilehurst ward.
So if you are a victim of ASB, do not suffer in silence. Please report the issues to us and we will do our best to get to the bottom of it and resolve the issues. If you or someone else are at immediate risk or in danger you should call 999. For non-emergency incidents of anti-social behaviour that you have witnessed or been victim of, please inform the police using the non-emergency number, 101, or by using the Thames Valley Police online reporting tool: https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/
Ongoing issues with ASB can be reported to the Council’s anti-social behaviour service by calling 0118 937 3787 or emailing asb.team@reading.gov.uk
With our partners we’re fully committed to continuing to address the presence of ASB in our communities, to build on the significant investment in additional cctv cameras and lighting thanks to Safer Streets funding. With your help we can keep doing more to make Reading safer.
Councillor Liz Terry is the leader of Reading Borough Council
