New warning to neighbours from hell

A series of initiatives have been introduced to tackle the problems, including a task force which brings together the council, Merseyside Police and the St Helens Federation of Tenant and Resident Associations.

Together they are tackling both council tenants and their visitors who cause a nuisance to their neighbours. Every council tenant in the borough has received a leaflet advising them of the council's approach to dealing with nuisance and anti-social behaviour on council estates, the legal remedies available, and the action tenants can take themselves to resolve the situation.

In March this year St Helens Mediation Service launched an initiative which aimed to prevent disputes escalating by enabling neighbours to discuss the dispute with an independent mediator.

The service has dealt with numerous cases to date and has had a good success rate. It is managed by Gill Clayton, who is based at the Ashton's Green local office, and further information about the service can be obtained from Gill on (01744) 614609.

Environmental Health Officers now have computerised monitoring equipment to monitor and record noise levels of noisy neighbours.

And private detectives may be used to gather sufficient evidence to take legal action against tenants who persist in causing a nuisance, or behave in an anti-social manner.

The detectives are only used in serious cases when the council recognises that neighbours may be too frightened to give evidence in court. A detective has been used on several occasions during the last 12 months and evidence gathered in one case resulted in the eviction of a tenant.

The nuisance enforcement action has been successful, resulting in several evictions and those tenants and their visitors involved in nuisance will not have access to council housing in future.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.