Antisocial Behaviour

As always, the Home Affairs Committee has produced an excellent report. I hope that I am not alone in rather regretting the layout of this Room. One of the advantages of Westminster Hall was that the seating was laid out in the shape of a horseshoe. When we debated Select Committee reports, particularly when they were unanimous, that layout enabled the House to focus on what united us and on how we could find common ground, rather than on what divided us. This report was unanimous, so by definition there was a lot of common ground. I do not intend to repeat anything the right hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Denham) said, but will make some brief points of my own. Any hon. Member who is in any way active in their constituency will know that antisocial behaviour takes place and very often creates totally disproportionate distress to those affected. Youngsters going down a street setting mobile wheelie bins on fire might think that quite fun, but it is very frightening and distressing for elderly people. In the past few days, we have heard a lot about the respect agenda, and understandably the tabloid papers have focused on the punitive measures. As with any system, one clearly requires punitive measures, such as antisocial behaviour orders. However, we also need to have some regard to how we help families that have difficulties with parenting. I am not entirely sure—sometimes there is confusion—about which agency should lead on this issue, particularly in rural or semi-rural areas, where county councils provide social services, and district councils, now through housing associations, provide housing. If one is to expect county councils and social services to help more with families that the right hon. Gentleman described as dysfunctional—families with difficulties—children's social services have to have a reasonably high priority. We have to recognise that social services budgets in the local government settlement must have a fair allocation. In Oxfordshire, we have a particular problem with the supporting people budget, which is putting pressure on other areas. On parenting, when I look back at those two university students, I sometimes think it a miracle that any of us bring up children. Parenting is a difficult thing, so we should be a little less hasty to condemn families who may have problems, because they may have them for all sorts of reasons. In trying to keep youngsters out of the criminal justice system, we ought to look at pupil referral units and who runs them. I fully understand that head teachers should have the power to exclude pupils, but such pupils then go to the pupil referral units and are not there for much time, or they are meant to work at home. It always strikes me as bizarre that we exclude pupils from school and expect them to go home and behave. Perhaps if head teachers had a greater say over what happens in the pupil referral units, we might get those youngsters out of those units—perhaps into other schools, college or something more constructive. There seems to be a tendency, which is no one's fault, of writing such people off. There do not seem to be very many schemes for helping mediation in neighbour disputes. As I am sure the hon. and learned Member for Redcar (Vera Baird) will know from her experience at the Bar and as I certainly know from mine, some of the most vitriolic litigation comes from neighbour disputes over small issues. Going through the panoply of law is often not the way to do it, and maybe we should find better ways of resolving neighbour disputes at a local level. I also have a particular concern. Often, new estates are appallingly designed. I represent one of the fastest-growing parts of the country; Banbury and Bicester are two of the fastest-growing towns. What happens with estate design? Let me describe the process. Planning permission is given for a load of fields to be built on. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is now calling in cases where the housing density is not great enough, so the idea of gardens or recreational space goes by the board. The developers set aside land for a pub, a doctors' surgery and shops and the private sector comes and deals with that. Land is set aside for the school and the county council, as the education authority, deals with that. They may, if the area is lucky, set aside land for a community centre, but no community centre will be built as no one has a responsibility to build one. There is no recreational land other than the school playing field, which can be used only when the school is operational. In one new housing estate in Bicester, for example, there is nowhere for the youngsters to go and play. It is hardly surprising that they get into difficulties. There was quite a lot of vandalism and antisocial behaviour on the estate so the town council asked all the youngsters what they wanted. Not surprisingly, they said, ““We'd like somewhere to hang out. We'd just like somewhere we can meet our mates, where we're not hassled by people.”” The town council then got round to building a simple shelter. Nothing more complicated; it is not rocket science. Of course, understandably, residents who live near the shelter are concerned about litter and noise, but if that estate had been designed with some reference to providing and ensuring some recreational space for young people—