Derbyshire County Council asked independent consultants NWA Social and Market Research to consult with members of the Citizen’s Panel across Derbyshire to identify what affects their perceptions of anti-social behaviour and what agencies can do differently to improve their perceptions.
The findings of the four consultation workshops have been presented to senior officers and elected members of Derbyshire County Council, Derbyshire Constabulary, Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service and the eight district/borough councils in Derbyshire. A copy of the report is available on www.saferderbyshire.gov.uk and www.derbyshire.gov.uk
The key themes emerging from the consultation were:
- Community – the need to develop a sense of community and provision of activities for young people
- Communication – the need for all agencies to tell communities about action being taken to prevent and address anti-social behaviour
- Environment – the need to address environmental issues such as litter, fly tipping etc
- Education and parental involvement – the importance of citizenship education in schools and parenting training and support
- Policing and enforcement – the need for all agencies to effectively enforce the legislation that has been put in place to tackle anti-social behaviour (and to tell communities that action has been taken)
There were a total of 37 recommendations for Derbyshire County Council and its partners to consider. We will do this over the next few months and let you know exactly what we are doing as a result of what you told us.
In the short term, Derbyshire County Council has already started work on the following:
- A drama presentation to Year 7 students about the consequences of different types of anti-social behaviour will be touring Derbyshire schools in from January – March 2007
- Information about anti-social behaviour and how you can report anti-social behaviour will soon be available at www.saferderbyshire.gov.uk
- A leaflet to explain how to report anti-social behaviour in Derbyshire
- Development of Derbyshire Fly Tipping Forum to bring together different agencies working to tackle fly tipping.