A residents conference to help find positive solutions to anti-social behaviour was held in Plymouth in September and Sanctuary residents from Devon and Cornwall were invited along. Sgt Dave Sheldrake and Ray Grange, one of Sanctuary’s tenancy enforcement officers, gave a presentation about current legislation and information about what tools are available to help tackle this problem.

The key message was that we all need to work together as residents, landlord and police to help stamp out anti-social behaviour on our schemes. Margaret Haydon, who is a neighbourhood watch officer, talked about the benefits of having a neighbour-hood watch scheme in your area. She gave lots of handy tips and guidelines to keep your home and belongings safe.

Residents were invited to take part in two workshops to look at proactive steps they could take when dealing with incidents of anti-social behaviour. This gave everyone the opportunity to take part and have their say. Volunteers from each group were asked to feedback to the other residents followed by a question and answer session.

“The day was a huge success,” said Chris Foxley and Jackie Charity who organised the conference. “Every one enjoyed themselves and found the day to be very interesting and informative. “We would like to take this opportunity of thanking forum and staff members for helping to make the day a success, in particular Adrian Burbridge (chairman of Residents Forum West), Jenny Norman and Terry Gratton (members of Residents Forum East).

”A similar conference had been organised near Bristol, but due to poor response, it had to be cancelled.If any residents have any suggestions about future events, for example themes to be covered or what would attract other residents to attend, then please contact Jackie Charity or Christine Foxley on 0845 602 1214.