Straw is known to be irritated that there have been just five orders since they were introduced last April - including the first two granted against teenagers last week.
Liverpool city council obtained the orders against two 17-year-olds who had been secretly filmed jumping on cars, climbing on roofs and spitting.
Liverpool magistrates granted the orders against the boys, who cannot be named, which ban them from two streets in the Edge Hill area of the city.
The pair were also told not to cause criminal damage, spit in a public place, use threatening behaviour likely to cause harrassment, alarm or distress, or incite or encourage others to behave in that way.
This week Straw announced he would be writing to other councils in England and Wales encouraging them to use the orders.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "It is really about raising awareness among local authorities that the powers are there. It is a kind of gee-up to local authorities saying we have got these measures and they can support the work you already do to tackle nuisance neighbours."
But councils are insisting that it takes time to collate evidence before an order can be granted, and many more are understood to be in the pipeline.
Local Government Association chair Sir Jeremy Beecham described Straw's impending criticism as "premature and ill-informed".
He rejected the Home Office's apparent attempts to have the orders "prescribed centrally" rather than decided upon at local level.
He added: "These orders are not designed to cure all social ills from teenage pregnancies to truancy."
However, Liverpool city council executive member for housing Richard Kemp said the orders "are a highly valuable addition to the measures open to local authorities in dealing with the anti-social behaviour of a small minority of residents."
Source
Housing Today
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