Another day, another offical report telling us what we already know: that between them the Labour government and the Labour-run Council are failing to sort out anti-social behaviour in Reading.
Today we read that Reading is one of the 16 worst places in the UK for anti-social behaviour.
The Home Office announced yesterday that government 'ASB Action Squads' will be sent to Reading as one of the areas of the country where anti-social behaviour is not being tackled well enough.
This intervention will be highly embarassing for Labour politicians in Reading who like to claim that crime is falling and problems are being dealt with.
Last week the Lib Dems highlighted news from the government's offical Place Survey which revealed that less than a quarter of people living in Reading have confidence that the Police and the Council together are dealing effectively with nuisance behaviour.
In 2007,independent inspectors of the Council's Community Safety service published a highly critical report of the Labour-run Council's approach to reducing crime.
As the Lib Dem's Safer Communities spokesperson between 2006 and 2009 I have been actively involved in campaigning for a more joined up approach to tackling anti-social behaviour and crime.
ASB continues to be an issue that local people living across Reading are very concerned about and as a Party the Lib Dems in Reading have led the way in campaigning for more effective action to tackle crime problems.
We have campaigned for more Police on the streets in Reading and more funding for Neighbourhood Action Groups to help get their message across and help get local people more involved in reducing anti-social behaviour in their areas.
Cllr Gareth Epps who is now leading for the Lib Dems in Reading on crime and communities issues (as well as being Lib Dem PPC for Reading East) had this to say on today's announcement and plans for a new 'Residents Charter':
"After all the warnings, 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.
"We must praise the hard work of all those trying to tackle these problems, and particularly the work of police Neighbourhood Action Groups which have made a real difference.
“The problem, though, is that action in Reading is insufficiently well-targeted and suffers from a lack of resources.
"A problem I frequently find is that communities have simply given up reporting problems. This happens far too often with Housing Associations in particular - some are good, but too many of them fail to meet their legal responsibility to take action.
“For this reason I am proposing that the Council draws up a charter, so residents know what they can expect, and Housing Associations can be held to the standards they should be following."
UPDATE:
A spokesperson of the Safer Reading Partnership has responded today, blaming Reading's poor showing on 'out of date data'
But as I've pointed out on this Blog before, the Council's own annual residents' survey has clearly shown that anti-social behaviour is one of the top concerns people in Reading have.
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