Councils play Camdens tune on ASBOs for flyposters

Councils across the country are SET to follow Camden’s lead and use antisocial behaviour orders to combat flyposting.

The local authority, which in July served ASBOs on executives from three music promotion companies involved in flyposting in the north London borough, has been approached by a number of other councils interested in using the idea (HT 23 July, page 11).

Camden estimates that it has been contacted by 20 to 30 local authorities, including Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and Islington.

Islington, which borders Camden, is understood to have held informal discussions with its neighbour over the use of ASBOs for flyposting.

A source at Islington council said its own problem with flyposting had worsened since Camden’s crackdown.

It has spent an extra £1m on street cleaning, but is considering other measures.

Steve Hitchins, leader of Islington council, said: “Camden’s use of ASBOs is very innovative and, following on from their success, we will be working with other London boroughs to put pressure on other music and entertainment businesses.”

Camden’s use of ASBOs is very innovative. We will be working with other London boroughs to put pressure
on music businesses

Steve Hitchins, Islington council

Registered social landlords are not expected to follow suit, however.

Tim Winter, national organiser of the Social Landlords’ Crime and Nuisance Group, said: “It’s a terrific initiative, but I’m not sure how widely it will be replicated [among RSLs]. There are few RSLs who really understand how to serve ASBOs [for flyposting] quickly or cheaply, although it will be interesting to see whether they are rolled out.”

All RSLs are in the process of reviewing their antisocial behaviour procedures after the Antisocial Behaviour Act required them to do so and are due to publish revised policies later in the year.

Colin Thomas, quality and compliance manager at London-based Metropolitan Housing Trust, said associations might be more likely to use court injunctions than ASBOs to tackle offences such as flyposting.

He said: “ASBOs are seen [by RSLs] as costly and long-winded because you need a lot of evidence, so we would prefer to use an injunction.”