NEXT week, Wokingham borough leaves the Public Protection Partnership (PPP) set up with other local councils to go it alone.
PPPexit will bring, says council leader John Halsall, huge benefits to the borough.
“The whole point of bringing the PPP back into the borough is to get close to the people, and offer a seven-day-a-week, 365-day-a-year service. We don’t offer a 24-hour-a-day service yet, but if that was necessary we would,” he explained.
Under the changes, from Friday, April 1, residents having problems with anti-social behaviour will be able to tap into the new inhouse team, which Cllr Halsall says will work closely with the 17 towns and parishes in the borough.
It will work with Environmental Health, Private Housing, Environmental Protection and Licensing departments, and bring to an end the existing service run by West Berkshire Council.
The PPP will continue to provide Trading Standards and some other services that would benefit from a regional approach.
But Cllr Halsall felt that the PPPexit would allow council officers to work more closely with police, community safety team and the council’s housing anti-social behaviour officer, providing a co-ordinated response to issues that arise.
Issues they will tackle include domestic noise nuisance, unauthorised street trading or charity collections, flytipping, bonfires, abandoned vehicles, nuisance vehciels, fly posting , and disturbances.
At launch, there will be 10 team members, who will work from 8am to 6pm Monday to Thursdays, 8am to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays, and from 1pm to 9pm on Sundays.
This will be reviewed after an initial period to see what is required for the winter.
The new service includes an animal warden to handle stray dogs, tackle animal neglect and promote responsible ownership.
The team will also work closely with food safety officers who in turn work with retailers, pubs and restaurants, and will have licensing officers overseeing alcohol sales, betting shops, arcades and taxis as well as a housing team supervising landlords in the private rented sector.
Cllr Bill Soane, executive member for neighbourhoods and communities, said: “We are pleased to launch this new service for our residents, which brings together a one-stop-shop to tackle all sorts of nuisance behaviours that negatively impact our residents’ lives.
“The new service will be available seven days a week, including weekend nights and all-day Sunday, because we know that is when a lot of nuisance behaviours happen. The team will also be proactive and go out patrolling known trouble hot spots to stop problems before they happen.”
And Cllr Halsall said: “These services really need to be local and respond to local requirements, they also need to be working during the weekend.
“The system is designed to residents should be able to ring or contact Wokingham Borough Council, and officers should be able to respond to them.”
And referring to recent late-night anti-social behaviour in Wokingham town centre, and concerns that the new service stops work while some late-night venues are still open, he said: “Until we have the service in place, we will not be sure what demand we will be serving. It’s obviously not sensible to have officers paid anti-social hour premiums to sit and do nothing.
“But if there is a demand, we will adapt to that demand.
“We have the resources to deal with problems as they arise and, if we’re competent and capable, put in countermeasures to ensure they don’t continue to arise.”
Residents can email asb@wokingham.gov.uk, call 0118 974 6000 between 9am and 5pm on weekdays, and at all other times call 0800 212 111, asking for the anti-social team.
An online reporting system will follow in due course.
