No South Ayrshire ASBO shame

Aug 1 2008

ONLY two anti-social behaviour orders were dished out in South Ayrshire during the past 12 months.

And safety chiefs reckon their formula for dealing with trouble is proving a big hit.

The claim comes as national figures show other regions soaring ahead in the ASBO league table.

Areas like Dumfries and Galloway (19) and Clackmananshire (15) are more readily handing out the behavioural orders.

Meanwhile, South Ayrshire is on a par with Orkney at the bottom end of the standings.

Louise Fyfe, the council’s community safety manager, reckons their rehab policy is working wonders.

She said: “The community safety partnership works hard to prevent problems rather than using behavioural orders in every case.

“It’s been proven that ASBOs are being broken a lot of the time, so they’re not a lot of use when that happens. We tend to favour good support and mediation services and work with parents and communities on the problems that exist.

“We’ve found it to be a very effective way of dealing with anti-social behaviour, however, we’re very clear that we’ll take action if necessary.”

South Ayrshire also compares favourably to its local counterparts with East Ayrshire using five orders and North Ayrshire taking out seven.

Council leader, Hugh Hunter, added: “We have a very experienced Community Safety team and use a range of interventions, including mediation, problem solving, diversionary activities, enforcement action and intensive support for victims of antisocial behaviour. We are noticing considerable success in areas where communities have been seriously affected by anti-social behaviour, with more recent crime and anti-social behaviour figures dropping dramatically in areas we have targeted.”