Summit will examine ways of tackling urban anti-social behaviour in Exeter
Published: 19 February 2020
A leadership summit which will look at ways of tackling urban anti-social behaviour will be held in Exeter.
The City Council plans to bring together a wide variety of groups and organisations to engage in ways of tackling anti-social behaviour in the city centre and elsewhere in the city.
The summit will deliver a report that sets out a shared understanding of the complex and underlying issues behind urban anti-social behaviour in and around Exeter City Centre. It is hoped that these skills will be used to underpin any actions going forward.
It will create a common purpose to collaborate across the system and help develop sustainable solutions to entrenched problems.
Emma Morse, Lead Councillor for Supporting People, said: “There is no one agency solely responsible for dealing with anti-social behaviour, but lots of agencies in and around it.
“So what we are doing as a local authority is to bring together all of those agencies, ask them what the problem is, and how we can fix it as a whole.
“We will bring together people from across the city - obviously the police and health professionals - but also charities, community groups and local businesses who may be affected, to establish what the problem is and how we can work together to fix it.”
Plans for the summit were announced as the Council’s Executive backed plans to consult on extending the city’s Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for another 12 months.
The order is mainly used by the police to deal with a particular nuisance or problem in a particular area that is detrimental to the local community’s qualify of life. It imposes conditions on the use of that area which apply to everyone.
Council Leader Phil Bialyk welcomed plans for the summit.
He said: “I have made it clear that we want to do something different in relation to urban anti-social behaviour. We want to look at street attachment and homelessness.
“I am proud of what we do in Exeter - we have a good record. But we always need to re-evaluate and look at what we do.
“When we walk down the High Street and we are still seeing people in doorways, we should be helping and supporting them. That is what this council is determined to do, and what the summit intends to do.”