Anti-social behaviour panel led by Newark and Sherwood District Council and partners helping to divert young people from anti-social behaviour

An early intervention scheme has helped to redirect more than 30 young people away from anti-social behaviour.

Newark and Sherwood’s anti-social behaviour panel — a collaboration between Newark and Sherwood District Council, youth services, schools, Nottinghamshire Police and others — has seen great success since it launched in its current form in May 2023.

A total of 38 young people — 27 boys and 11 girls — from across the district have been referred to the panel in that time.

It prioritises a staged app-roach to tackling un-wanted behaviour, aiming to redirect young people into meaningful activities and teach them about how their behaviour affects others, before escalating to enforcement action if other interventions do not prove effective.

Paul Taylor, the district council’s cabinet member for public protection and community relations, said: “It’s very much young people centred. The purpose of the panel is to steer them away from anti-social behaviour.

“Usually when young people are involved in anti-social behaviour, they are actually suffering too.”

Referrals to the panel can be made by the police, the council’s anti-social behaviour team, schools, social services, or other youth services — often people who have interactions with the young person and have observed their behaviour.

The panel then considers what is best for each individual, to either help prevent any escalation or help them improve their behaviour — which begins with offering the young person advice on their conduct and the potential consequences.

“In some cases that does enough to divert them, but it doesn’t work for everyone at that point,” Mr Taylor added.

“At this stage it is generally low-level incidents — causing noise, shouting, swearing in public, general rowdiness — which can be the norm for some young people.

“It’s lower-level but it still impacts and causes nuisance to others.”

If advice doesn’t have the desired effect on the young person’s behaviour, there are then a number of stages of further intervention.

This begins with a letter to the young person’s parent or carer, to explain what has been happening.

If this still doesn’t prove effective, the young person can be entered into an acceptable behaviour contract. This step can also be taken immediately in more severe cases of anti-social behaviour.

Mr Taylor said: “It’s about getting the young person invested in tackling the issues with their behaviour, and to get them to acknowledge what’s happening and agree to change their behaviour.”

In many cases these steps have proved enough to curb unwanted behaviours, but in the most serious cases the council also has the ability — and the will — to take out injunctions against those causing frequent and more severe issues.

In one such case three young people who had been involved in anti-social behaviour in Newark town centre were barred from the area and also from associating with each other.

During the course of the year their injunction lasted for, there were only two breaches due to a pair associating with each other — and no further incidents of anti-social behaviour from the group.

“It shows that a stepped approach really can work, even with some of the hardest to work with young people,” said Mr Taylor.

The panel can also refer young people to other schemes — selected based on what they are interested in and will most benefit them — which can give them something more productive to do or help them learn about the consequences of their behaviour.

This includes the Mending Lines angling for wellbeing scheme, sports clubs, the Hill Holt Wood scheme which educates on issues surrounding environmental and wildlife crime, and the Nottinghamshire youth justice service which offers one-to-one interventions to help prevent re-offending.

The mix of organisations involved, including youth and social services, also means the panel can ensure those referred have access to support services relevent to them.

Jenny Walker, the council’s business manager for public protection, added: “One of the benefits of the panel is that because it has such a good make-up of partners, including schools, you can identify the young people who need the support sooner and have the mechanisms to refer them for this, and have the advice and support of partners who have been there before.

“The panel has really shown what can be done by getting in there earlier… in the majority of cases it has proved effective.”

While the panel can offer vital support to help redirect young people straying into lower-level anti-social behaviour, Mr Taylor emphasised that police still have all their powers to act and that in the more severe cases action will not begin with advice but will be escalated as appropriate.

Diversion and enforcement is only half the work involved in tackling anti-social behaviour.

Preventative action — such as talks in schools; the Prison, Me, No Way scheme, safety days in partnership with emergency services — helps reach young people and educate them before they even have chance to become engaged in anti-social behaviour.

Environmental improvements, such as installation of lighting, CCTV and a youth shelter in Balderton as part of Safer Streets Five have also helped to see a decline in incidents, with the former hot-spot having only one recorded in November.

“It’s about getting a balance. We do the prevention, the diversion — we put things in place to help them change — but we also do enforcement,” Mr Taylor said.

“We do the softly, softly approach, but we’re also on the ball and willing to take out injunctions.”

The public are also reminded of the importance of reporting incidents of anti-social behaviour to the council — either via the website or by contacting the council on 01636 650000.

While reports may not see immediate response, they are vital to help identify hotspots and patterns of behaviour and to inform plans to tackle issues.