Published: Wednesday, 15th July, 2009 6:00am
Council hits back at Home Office yob figures
by Adam Hewitt
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GOVERNMENT hit squads are coming to Reading to tackle the town"s anti-social behaviour problem - but the council insists the Home Office is using faulty data.
Reading is one of 16 council areas getting the treatment, linked to a new Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Action website launched by Home Secretary Alan Johnson on Monday [14].
But the website, aimed at providing people with more information about the problem in their area, has been accused by Reading Borough Council (RBC) of using out-of-date information. It shows that 27% of people in Reading think yobbish behaviour is a problem, compared to 12.6% in West Berkshire and 9.9% in Wokingham.
The high proportion of people in Reading seeing ASB as a problem is a factor in the Government sending in its action squad, but council spokeswoman Jo Mill said: 'It is unfortunate that a significant amount of data used on the Home Office website is out of date and does not reflect the current position in Reading.'
She said lots had happened in the last year, such as using more alcohol-related disorder and dispersal orders, and that the ASBO statistics especially were very out-of-date.
She added: 'Reading is in no way complacent about the challenges we face as a borough and, as such, welcomes the Home Office"s offer of additional support from the ASB Action Squad to complement the wide range of work it carries out on behalf of Reading residents.'
Lib Dem communities spokesman Cllr Gareth Epps said: 'It really is a damning indictment of Labour"s policies in Reading that the Government has designated the borough as one of the worst hotspots in the country.'
The website also gives annual statistics for 2003-2008 showing how many ASB-related injunctions, acceptable behaviour contracts and agreements, parenting orders, crack house closures and eviction orders have been made in each area.
Link: www.direct.gov.uk/antisocialbehaviour
For more stories and your full round up of what's happening in Reading you can purchase the e-edition of the Reading Chronicle click here.
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Martin McGill
(Unregistered User)
Jul 15 09 11:42
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This is just a sticking plaster. I suggest three fundamental solutions.
1. Its time the local inequalities in education were tackled and the grammer schools were either shut or allowed to privatize and become fee paying. Only rich people benefit from them anyway.
2. The local government structure needs to be made more realistic as well, rich areas like Wokingham and West Tilehurst need to be brought into the government of the community that in reality affects them most, also Earley and Woodley need to contribute their input into the running of the area that in reality defines them. The way Reading is run is truly revolting and has allowed the town to be labelled and diminished as a result.
3. The population of Reading needs to be expanded to its natural limit and take on a size roughly equivilent to that of Frankfurt or Milan. I suspect this is already secretly planned as the sewage system has recently been upgraded to serve a much larger city, as has the waste disposal network. I think Reading should reach the fringes of Henley in the north, Twyford in the east, expand down into the Pang Valley and up its entire west bank and in the south should pass over the M4 at least a couple of miles.
These are the only measures that will guard against long term decline.
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