BASINGSTOKE and Deane Borough Council’s community safety chief took to the streets earlier this month to see how anti-social behaviour is tackled across the borough.

The borough council’s Cabinet member for communities, service delivery and improvement, Councillor Robert Tate, who is also the chairman of the Strategic Community Safety Partnership which covers Basingstoke and Deane, Hart and Rushmoor, teamed up with the local authority’s Community Safety Patrollers on August 4 to better understand their daily challenges.

On the day, an anti-social behaviour warning was issued following fly-tipping in Abbey Road, Popley, and as the team’s work involves developing relationships with the community, Cllr Tate met with the manager of Rooksdown Community Centre and heard about issues in the area before visiting roads where the team are re-introducing a neighbourhood agreement to help tackle anti-social behaviour.

Cllr Tate also visited Burnaby Close shopping parade, in South Ham, where he met with CSPOs David Mason and Martin Lee who explained the Safer Shops Scheme while dealing with two incidents of anti-social behaviour.

Since the borough council took over the running of the service in January after Hampshire County Council stopped its Accredited Community Safety Service, the Community Safety Patroller team has dealt with over 1,290 incidents, issued 147 fixed penalty notices and handed out 216 anti-social behaviour warnings.

Cllr Tate said: “This was a fantastic insight into the work done by the team. We have a low crime rate in the borough, which is something to be proud of, but we also take tackling antisocial behaviour very seriously and our aim is to prevent this occurring by working proactively with local residents and the police.

“I felt it was important to understand the challenges our officers face and to support them.

“They are doing a tremendous job in delivering the message that antisocial behaviour is not acceptable, while also working with residents in the borough to create communities that care for their area and understand how to manage, contain and report issues so that this behaviour can be stamped out quickly and effectively."