Press Release
14th July 2003

Anti-Social Behaviour Bill – Minister Consults Inverclyde
Communities Minister, Margaret Curran, is coming to Inverclyde to hear what measures local residents want included in the forthcoming Anti-Social Behaviour (Scotland) Bill. 

The Minister, who will be responsible for piloting the landmark legislation through the Scottish Parliament later this year, will consult local residents, community organisations and professionals on the legal shake up at Greenock’s Mearns Centre this Thursday (17^th July 2003).

MSP for Greenock & Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, said the fact that the Minister had responded so positively to his invitation to come and listen to his constituents’ experiences and ideas underlined her “determination to get this most vital piece of legislation right.”

“From abandoned cars to vandalism, from barking dogs to drug addicts using your close as a shooting gallery or a lavatory, anti-social behaviour blights the lives of too many decent hardworking people,” Mr McNeil said today.

“While it is up to all of us to challenge this sort of behaviour on a daily basis, it is the government’s responsibility to make sure that the law is on our side.  We now have a golden opportunity to do this – and we need to get it right.

“I’ve long said that, when it comes to framing legislation, the more people with first-hand experience of the issue who have their say, the better the legislation will be.  It therefore bodes well for this Bill that the Minister is not only consulting the professionals, who will of course have ample opportunity to make their valuable contributions, but the people on whose lives it will directly impact.”

In the coming parliamentary session, the Scottish Executive is committed to drafting legislation to tackle anti-social behaviour.  The purpose of this consultation event is to allow a range of local people to make direct representations to the Minister, outlining what shape they feel the legislation should take.

Measures already under consideration for inclusion in the Bill include:

• Extending Anti-Social Behaviour Orders to 12 to 15-year-olds;

• Introducing focused, visible Community Reparation Orders;

• Introducing Parenting Orders requiring parents to act in the best interests of their children;

• Extending the availability of electronic tagging of children;

• Banning the sale of spray paint to under-16s;

• Strengthening the duty on local agencies to involve communities in drawing up anti-social behaviour strategies;

• Encouraging local authorities to set up proactive anti-social behaviour units;

• Encouraging wider use of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts for children and parents;

• Strengthening the range of options available to children’s hearings for dealing with anti-social behaviour;

• Strengthening penalties for litter, fly-tipping, graffiti and abandoned cars;

• Giving Community Wardens powers to issue fixed penalty notices for litter;

• Strengthening local authorities’ powers to tackle noisy neighbours;

• Strengthening local authorities’ powers to deal with landlords who don’t tackle anti-social behaviour by their tenants;

• Piloting "good neighbour" declarations setting out the respective responsibilities of landlords, tenants and agencies;

• Giving the police powers to close premises where drug-dealing or other anti-social behaviour takes place and to disperse groups where there is anti-social behaviour; and

• Introducing fixed penalty notices for some forms of anti-social behaviour.

The consultation period closes on 11th September 2003 and Ministers intend to introduce a Anti-Social Behaviour (Scotland) Bill in the autumn.
ENDS  

Notes
The meeting will take place at 10:30am on Thursday 17^th July in the Mearns Centre, Greenock.

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