With the introduction of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, Local Authorities aswell as Housing Associations will have to produce policies and procedures on anti-social behaviour.

Although only the draft guidance is available from the Welsh Assembly Government to date (final guidance to be issued shortly), many local authorities and Housing Associations have already began the task of drafting the policies and procedures. England has already had to produce these documents some six months prior.

The first big hurdle for local authorities and housing associations is ensuring that all relevant stakeholders and partners have a say in the content of the policies and procedures, whilst ensuring that they are still workable documents.

Another potential hurdle is that Local authorities and Housing Associations only have 6 months from the commenced date (30th April 2005) to publish the policies and procedures. Bearing in mind the lengthy time it can take to get some policies through the relevant committee’s etc., it will be very interesting to see how many successfully release their policies and procedures on time, and what action, if any, WAG will take against any who don’t meet the deadline.

The draft guidance also mentions that the policies and procedures must include the ‘community’ – not just the Local Authority/Housing Association tenants. This again may prove to be a difficult task in ensuring that non-tenants are dealt with in the same way. Anti-Social Behaviour is of course a very ‘hot-topic’ today around the country and looks set to remain so for some time.

Demoted tenancies are also now available to local authorities and housing associations throughout Wales, although again it will be interesting to see how many organisations make use of this new power, and how any applications will be received by the courts. Initial expectation seems to be that court judges will be reluctant to grant a demotion order as it takes away their discretion if the case is returned to court during the 12 months demoted tenancy period.

Rest assured though, Housing in Wales will endeavour to keep this page updated with links to the Anti-Social Behaviour policies and procedures for all Local Authorities and Housing Associations in Wales as and when they become available.

By Brett Sadler