Drones and patrols to target troublesome tenants

Troublesome tenants could be evicted quickly under tough new plans being rolled out across Dudley to crack down on antisocial behaviour.

Covert surveillance, using drones to track off-road bikes, street officers on patrol in hotspot areas and legal action to evict persistently problematic residents in council houses are among new measures.

A meeting of the Conservative-controlled council's cabinet on Wednesday was presented with a draft of the new policy.

"Enforcement action will be taken against tenants who disrupt the lives of others or commit crime," the document stated.

"Victims will be supported, perpetrators will be challenged, and tenancy enforcement will be pursued until unacceptable behaviour is brought to an end."

Councillor Ian Bevan told the meeting since 2023/24 the council have reshaped how antisocial behaviour (ASB) is handled in Dudley.

"We have moved from a delayed reactive response to a model where every report is assessed and allocated on the same day and supported by improved case management, stronger partnership working and a visible enforcement presence."

He added the changes had led to Dudley tenant satisfaction in ASB services rising from 46 percent to 62 percent.

Dudley Labour group leader Adam Aston told the meeting there was no disagreement that a tough stance on ASB was needed but wanted more detail on zero tolerance.

Aston said: "Is it something we say, or is it something we actually mean?

"I work in the NHS and there is a perfect example of where we say we have zero tolerance, specifically to violence and aggression towards staff – it feels like we don't really mean it."

Council leader Patrick Harley, said: "We have to work within the restrictions of what is legal to build a sound case, too often in the past when no sound case has been built, we've just let it go.

"Zero tolerance means zero tolerance, we have to do our job as elected members to help out tenants collect that evidence."

Part of the new strategy involves bringing cases to court much quicker with more robust evidence.

Councillor Damian Corfield said: "The council will adopt absolute grounds, the time frame can be 48 hours where we've probably seen, especially in domestic abuse cases, that can drag out over 12 months, sometimes up to two years."

Absolute grounds is a legal power which allows landlords to move quickly to evict tenants when antisocial behaviour has been proven.

The council will now complete a review of its Housing Allocations Policy before starting a legal process to change tenancy terms and conditions to include new ASB measures.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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