A SPECIAL antisocial behaviour squad is set to hit the streets of north Edinburgh under a new initiative.
Teams of local volunteers will meet monthly to discuss the worst affected areas for antisocial behaviour and report their findings to police and the council.
It is hoped the new partnership will help reduce some of the worst-hit neighbourhoods in
the city for crime and deprivation.
The Forth Neighbourhood Partnership Action Group will be split into two sections – one to address crime and the local environment and the other to advise on regeneration.
The groups will comprise representatives from local community councils who will work closely with police and the council.
Drylaw Telford Community Council secretary Dave Pickering, who is likely to sit on one of the groups, said the move would restore some faith in policing among the local community.
He said: "It's all about tapping into local knowledge to get things addressed quicker.
"No-one knows areas where crime and antisocial behaviour is bad better than the people who actually live there, so it's important to get them involved as best we can.
"It should ensure minor things that can be dealt with without going too far are done so, and it should give people more faith in the system as a whole."
The action group, which was rubber stamped at a recent meeting of the Forth Neighbourhood Partnership, will be divided into the Clean, Green and Safe group and the Physical Regeneration arm.
Both will work throughout areas such as Drylaw, Pilton, Granton, Muirhouse and Trinity, with meetings taking place from January.
As well as identifying trouble hot-spots the Clean, Green and Safe team – which will be made up of a host of local voluntary community group, police and council officials – will monitor the time it takes to place people in empty council properties, keep tabs on rent arrears, compile lists of filthy streets and parks in need of cleaning and upgrades, and make notes of environmental improvements needed.
The regeneration organisation, comprising similar representatives and volunteers, will work to gauge local views on development and improvements in what is to become the site of one of the city's biggest regeneration programmes on Granton's waterfront.
Members will also represent the partnership on planning issues.
Forth councillor Elizabeth Maginnis said: "It will be the antisocial behaviour group that will have the most community involvement, which is necessary because local people who live in the worst affected areas are the ones who know the problems the best.
"It will have to be managed at council level, but it's important to get local people involved as much as we can."
The full article contains 449 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
