Enforcement
Enforcement
Foreword
Welcome to Tameside Council's Enforcement webpages.
The Council will not tolerate anti social behaviour in all its forms and takes a tough line on those who spoil our environment or disrupt local communities.
Our approach involves working with a range of partners e.g. the Police, who also share our commitment to get tough on those who break the law without regard for others.
Through these web pages we give you examples of the sort of hard-hitting enforcement we are doing to protect the residents and environment of Tameside.
You, the people of Tameside regularly tell us how important it is to clamp down on people who drop litter, allow their dogs to foul or disrupt local neighbourhoods by anti social behaviour. I am sure you will agree that we are responding to that by the tough line we are taking on such matters.
Councillor Margaret Oldham - Cabinet Deputy for Coordination Services
Enforcement Activities
Anti Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs)
ASBOs and ABCs are used to control the anti social activities of people who cause nuisance to neighbours, communities or businesses. They are awarded by the Magistrates Court and can be used to exclude individuals from certain areas or visiting certain establishments.
ASBOs and ABCs are secured by working in partnership with organisations such as the Police, Youth Offending Team and registered social landlords such as New Charter Housing.
The Council's Anti Social Behaviour Team has so far targeted over 400 individuals and 21 ASBOs have now been secured.
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Recent Cases: ASBO bans woman from Ashton A woman branded a prolific thief has been banned from Ashton town centre and the town's ASDA store. Margo Hanlon, aged 36, was handed an Anti Social Behaviour Order by Tameside Magistrates Court on Thursday April 1st. She is now banned from entering the town centre of Ashton for two years except for access to the Probation office, her solicitor's office and the DWP office. She is also banned from going into ASDA in Ashton and acting in an anti social or criminal manner anywhere in England and Wales. The Court convicted her of obtaining property by deception, theft and common assault and she also had 45 other offences taken into consideration. The court made the order to protect persons from her behaviour. She has a lengthy criminal history mainly for theft, fraud and drug offences. |
Fly Tipping
Fly tipping is illegal, dangerous and spoils the local environment of Tameside. People who perpetrate fly tipping are fully aware of the consequences and dump waste illegally to avoid the true cost of waste disposal that is borne by responsible businesses and individuals.
The Council has recently established a new team to crack down on fly tipping across Tameside. They will be targeting their activities on known 'hotspots' and will be using a range of surveillance techniques to catch and prosecute offenders.
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Recent Cases: Fly Tipped Drums Tameside patrollers reported the tipping of five 45-gallon drums on a country lane off Lees Road, Ashton-under-Lyne. A visit by an officer from Environmental Protection showed them to be almost full of what resembled industrial lubricant and some of the barrels appeared to be leaking. Identification by the officer of some of the labels resulted in the investigation leading to one of the rail network companies. Contact with the company was finally established and they agreed to act on the tipping as soon as possible. Photos of the site where the drums had been tipped were e-mailed to the company and it was established that the drums might have been stolen from their depot. Arrangements were made for the drums to be collected the same day and this action by the rail company saved a lot of time and money, which may have had to be spent by the local authority. |
Littering and Dog Fouling
Littering and Dog Fouling are not only anti social but can also pose a real danger to the health of the community. Litter creates a poor image of our area and dog fouling can spread disease as well as being unsightly.
Our 60 strong Tameside Patroller team regularly patrols the Borough targeting those who drop litter or allow their dogs to foul. The Patrollers are now issuing on the spot Fixed Penalty Notices to offenders. Each Fixed Penalty Notice carries a £50 fine that must be paid within 14 days to avoid possible court action where even bigger fines can be imposed.
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Recent Cases: Fixed Penalty Notices Over the past few months the Patrollers have issued 34 notices for dog fouling. Work is now ongoing to target litter droppers. |
Underage Sales of Alcohol
Much of the anti social behaviour that concerns our community is fuelled by the consumption of alcohol. Of particular concern is the consumption of alcohol by people under the age of 18.
Tameside Council are working closely with the Police to identify and target those businesses who actively sell alcohol to under 18s. We have put in place a programme of measures to ensure that where businesses are flouting the law those responsible are prosecuted and made aware that repeated offences might result in the loss of their licence.
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Recent Cases: Underage Sales in Dukinfield On 9th January 2004 shop assistant Denise Mellor was found guilty of selling alcohol to a person under the age of 18 from a shop at Concorde Way, Dukinfield. The offence involved selling to a 'test purchaser' working for the Council. She was fined £200 and ordered to pay £160 costs. On the same day the proprietor of the same shop, Mitesh Patel, also pleaded guilty to the same offence. He was fined £600 and ordered to pay £400 costs. |
Dealing with Truancy
All children benefit from attending school regularly. As well as educating children, school provides opportunities for making friends and learning how to get on with people. Children are also encouraged to develop any talents or skills they may have, as well as the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy.
Children who do not attend school regularly miss out on these opportunities. More importantly children who truant from school are more likely to get involved in all sorts of anti social behaviour which can damage and disrupt local communities.
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Recent Cases: Truancy Sweeps Over the last year a range of activities have been carried out to control truancy including;
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Tameside Council's Year of Our Environment Programme 2003
Throughout 2003 Tameside Council ran a wide-ranging programme aimed at tackling and improving a wide range of environmental issues.
The ambitious programme was themed around three main areas.
Citizenship and Responsible Behaviour
Better Services, Higher Quality Environment
Tougher Enforcement
The Year of Our Environment Programme has now finished and in relation to enforcement activity the following was achieved.
- Tameside Patrollers now 54 strong with 12 cadets being recruited
- 146 alleygating schemes introduced protecting 2065 households
- 18 Anti Social Behaviour Orders obtained
- 13 Acceptable Behaviour Contracts secured
- 200 complaints dealt with by the Anti Social Behaviour team
- 283 incidents dealt with by CCTV resulting in 141 arrests
- Introduction of 'on the spot' fines for litter and dog fouling, 13 already issued for dog fouling
- 7 truancy blitzes on schools
- 300 home visits of suspected truants
- 2 town centre truancy sweeps, 82 pupils stopped
- 48 enforcement notices served for fly tipping
- major reduction in road casualties due to Watchman traffic cameras
- targeted enforcement activity to tackle under age alcohol sales
More information on the Year of Our Environment is available.