Antisocial Behaviour: Travellers

(asked on 4th January 2022) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what enforcement powers local authorities have to tackle anti-social behaviour on a travellers' site, when the site has been acquired by the traveller community; and what new powers the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill will introduce to assist local authorities to undertake enforcement action on those sites.


Answered by
Rachel Maclean Portrait
Rachel Maclean
This question was answered on 12th January 2022

The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 can be used for cases of anti-social behaviour, including on travellers’ sites. Through this Act we have provided the police, local authorities, and other local agencies with a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to all forms of anti-social behaviour. These powers are deliberately local in nature, and it is for agencies to use their local knowledge of each incident to determine whether their use is appropriate in the specific circumstances.

Through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, we will be strengthening the police’s powers to arrest and seize the vehicles of those who trespass to set up unauthorised encampments and cause damage, disruption or distress, which could include instances of anti-social behaviour. These will complement the exiting powers that the police and local authorities have to remove unauthorised campers under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

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