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http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.htm ... page_id=34

Noisy neighbours 'evicted in 48 hours'
by SUZY AUSTIN - Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Homeowners will be thrown out of their properties within 48 hours for committing anti-social behaviour under new powers unveiled.

The Home Secretary said persistent troublemakers should be evicted from their homes as quickly as possible.

'I want to give the police powers to close down places which are the bane of a community,' he said.

'Perhaps it is a site used for raves or a house used as a brothel which draws people in at all times of the night and day.

'Shutting them would be a last resort. But it could be done in 48 hours.'

Suspended fines would also be attached to existing acceptable behaviour contracts, the Home Secretary added. The £80 on-the-spot penalties would apply to people who breached a contract after agreeing to it.

Dr Reid outlined the ideas on Tuesday during a trip to Bristol.

He admitted there was a 'justice shortfall' in Britain, with too few people believing the criminal justice system was on their side.

We should move away from the traditional view that justice had to involve going to court, he indicated.

The Home Office said the eviction measures would be based on existing powers which allow police to close crack dens within 48 hours.

Homeless charity Shelter criticised Dr Reid's closure order proposals.

Director Adam Sampson said: 'Every year Shelter helps thousands of victims of anti-social behaviour, so we have first-hand experience of the damage it causes to lives and communities.

'But John Reid's proposal will only create homelessness and move the problem from one neighbourhood to another.'

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I can't believe what I'm reading. Welcome to Airstrip 1.

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Paul Smith
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The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Picking up on these 'contracts', sounds like prople are being made to sign under duress, which kinda renders it void, right?

We suffered this a few years ago - the council evicted a drug dealer from an estate in Bowness - but were then forced to re-house her... on our street.

From day one there was nothing but trouble, until finally she was evicted once more.
Unfortunately for the people of Milnthorpe, she was foisted on them!

There is no cure for this problem, until they either die of an overdose, a gang hit, or get put in prison. Even then, the house is kept empty until their release, as they cannot be evicted if they are not there to accept the eviction notice!
This stupid government sticks patches everywhere, but never gets around to removing the cause of the problems!

Maybe we should deport them to Iraq?

(I meant the government AND the troublemakers!)

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

justice has to involve going to court.
Because peolpe get the chance to get their case heard.
This is very scary.

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Oct 11 Birmingham Half Marathon. I am running for the British Heart Foundation.
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This is true in some cases, but if somebody is causing a disturbance outside or next door to our house, then SOMEBODY has to have the power to stop it there and then, not in court a day/week/month later.

These are not the sort of offences which police are equiped to deal with like drunkeness or affray. And what DO YOU DO with persistant offenders?

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

And the same should go for Gypsies/Travellers, by the time councils have gone to court for evection notices the damage has already been done.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

The police already have the power to stop disturbances. What they don't have is the power to judge it. This is like the "we have no records of you being insured therefore we are going to crush your car" threads.

It's all knee-jerk reactions to specific problems, they forget that in the vast majority of cases there are two sides to everything & this is what we have a justice system for. (or had )

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It just reflects the kind of press-motivated knee-jerk ill-thought policies that the current government take great delight in imposing. The new "noisy neighbours" powers are one more step to state domination, repression and control.

The fact of the matter is that we are all becoming uncreasingly unhappy, and discontent breeds discontent. Parking "violations", "ASBO's", "noisy neighbours" all reflect a break down of common decency caused by poor town, village and city and country planning, repressive government, poor distribution of wealth, unpopular policies, problems with education, transport and social support structures - to name but a few.

It's exactly the same kind of repressive state control that gives us speed cameras, camera's everywhere, in fact.

If only a little more time was spent treating the cause rather than the symptom we would all be a lot better off.

Judge Dread is coming a step closer every day...

indeed.

Unfortunately ,what used to be in the domain of policing (noise etc) has been foisted on to councils.
In the case of council housing , a very good scheme was started - noise/disturbance, or any matter where the police were called to attend was reported to the council housing offices - helping to build up a record. Seems to have stopped.
Don't know about owner occupied problems - but in council premises - it's very difficult to get action as most councils do not employ "professionsl " witnesses ,due to cost, and it takes a group of tenants to get action by keeping a log, despite intimidation /threats /vandalism and sometimes physical violence.
So some scheme to speed up the process is welcome - but 48hours - and for owner occupiers seems to smack of some officials being judge/jury and executioner - having been involved in one such case --i would think ( in spite of the problems that this family and their suporters caused) that the rights of the individuals have been taken away - more like rule by threat rather than by consent.

Perhaps a forced move to somewhere out of the way might be a more efficient solution

Noise is a form of environmental pollution, so I'm surprised the government hasn't got around to taxing it yet.

The higher the audio output rating of electronic devices, the higher the government tax on the purchase price. Easy!