Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Victory for Brighton Council tenants
Brighton & Hove City Council was awarded full, immediate possession of a property in Craven Vale last week following one of the worst cases of antisocial behaviour experienced on a housing estate in the city.
The eviction follows ongoing serious antisocial behaviour in Craven Vale involving several families. It has been one of the most serious cases of nuisance, the council housing antisocial behaviour team has ever dealt with.
Not only did the family cause a tremendous amount of nuisance, which affected many of the homes at Craven Vale, the house they were living in became a meeting point for all the people who were causing nuisance in the area.
During the summer lots of people would sit outside the house (which looked over the whole estate) for hours, drinking, shouting and swearing, often late into the evening. Neighbours were threatened and even assaulted causing a climate of fear and intimidation. There was also litter strewn around, spitting on the grass, arguments and public urination at all hours of the day and night. Sometimes the noise was so loud in the early hours it woke neighbours causing a lot of distress.
The court order has enabled the council to remove one of the most serious perpetrators off the estate and the address will no longer act as a magnet and social centre for people who caused such severe nuisance from the property.
Brighton & Hove City Council’s housing antisocial behaviour team co-ordinated actions and exchanged information continually with the police. The team also worked with other agencies, including the Family Intervention Project which provided a parenting contract, a parenting order and organised a private leased property for one family to move into with continued parenting support.
Following the eviction another neighbour who gave evidence said:
“We have never spent Christmas here because the nuisance was so bad we always had to go and stay away to get some peace and quiet. This is the first Christmas we will be spending here and I am so looking forward to it.”
