Erdington will see reduced funding to Streetwise, as well as cuts to the ASB Unit. Image via Wikipedia
In this climate of “mend and make-do”, it is alarming to hear of Birmingham’s ASB schemes being cut, whilst the police admit they do not consider anti-social behavior to be a priority. Inside Housing on 3/12/10 reported the closure of Birmingham Council’s Safer Community Partnership whilst Public Service highlights the funding cuts faced by community schemes such as Streetwise which operates in the Sutton Coldfield and Erdington districts of the city.
Birmingham’s population now totals over a million people, with a heavy emphasis on teenagers and young adults. Projects such as Streetwise work because they engage young people before ASB incidents happen – as opposed to the police who can only step in once a report has been made. They are also excellent value for money, reaching over 4,000 young people in the past four years. When these services are withdrawn, what happens to the communities? If the residents are lucky, they may be part of a proactive housing association with an ASB team. If they are renting privately – or their landlord faces its own cutbacks – their only recourse will be the neighbourhood watch scheme and the police.
In April 2008 the Council set up BASBU as part of the Safer Birmingham Partnership, to coordinate and deliver activity across the city aimed at reducing cases of anti-social behaviour. Working closely with many agencies including, importantly local police teams, the Unit has had great success. It should be noted that council tenants (Birmingham is the largest local authority landlord in England with some 65,000 tenancies) as well as housing association tenants were and still are advised to report ASB cases to their landlord.
To save costs Birmingham City Council has recently announced that BASBU is to close at the end of March next year and staff have been advised that the closure could lead to redundancies. Inevitably housing officers, both council and housing association, will be expected to take on an even greater role in dealing with ASB but will they have the same support from the police which BASBU has enjoyed? Birmingham says it needs to make savings of £330 million but there is, now, no sign of the anticipated savings that will be made by closing BASBU and what the increased costs, not necessarily all monetary, will be as a result.
By Mike Blomer
