South Anglia Housing

Success stories: Bishop’s Stortford

A former crime analyst has been drafted in to solve anti-social behaviour problems at Anchor Street in Bishop's Stortford.

The South Anglia Housing Association is spearheading efforts to find a way to stop troublemakers plaguing the area and will use the analyst to liaise with tenants.

The organisation is now working with East Herts District Council, the local Youth Offending and Youth Detached teams as well as Herts Constabulary, which is carrying out its own analysis of data to establish exactly how and why offences are escalating.

Together, the groups aim to come up with an action plan "to protect residents and ensure Bishop's Stortford remains a low-crime area".

South Anglia has identified the main issues at Anchor Street as: night clubbers congregating near by late at night; people using Swan Court as a short-cut to neighbouring estates; littering; and non-residents entering Swan Court. Managing director Chris Ellison said: "We are committed to protecting our residents at Anchor Street and to tackling anti-social problems.

"We've taken the lead to organise a multi-agency approach to introduce both short and long-term preventative measures.

"These could include the installation of CCTV, high-visibility police patrols, installing improved security measures, giving police access to carry out regular checks and working with local businesses and leisure services to resolve problems.

"Bishop's Stortford is a low-crime area and we want to work with other local agencies to ensure it remains that way."

The association has now employed former crime analyst Steve Kensington as a full-time anti-social behaviour co-ordinator, who will work with tenants. He said: "My role is to ensure South Anglia residents have the quality of life they deserve. Any of our tenants experiencing anti- social behaviour should get in touch so we can work together to prevent it from re-occurring.

"It's crucial to identify and tackle problems early on to stop them escalating. I urge our residents to contact South Anglia with any problems.

"We are here to help and want to work with our residents to reach a positive outcome."

Tenants can call the South Anglia customer service centre on 0845 600 1543 or email steven.kensington@circleanglia.org

(This is sourced from the Hertfordshire and Essex Observer, dated 3 May 2007)