£1.5m to tackle yobs

MANCHESTER council is set to double the amount it spends on tackling rising anti-social behaviour in the city.

The extra £1.5m funding will be a late addition to budget discussions this week.

The move has already been backed by a scrutiny committee although it will still have to be signed off in Friday’s budget setting meeting.

The plan is still in early stages but it is understood that it should pay for seven more caseworkers.

Speaking in last week’s budget scrutiny meeting, council leader Sir Richard Leese said that antisocial behaviour has become a ‘bigger issue’ in the city and had been exacerbated by the decrease in police officers under the coalition and Conservative governments, although he said that he wouldn’t claim the extra money would be ‘sufficient to mitigate the impact of all of those cuts.’

The caseworkers would be ‘allocated on the basis of the requests for assistance that come in from residents within the city,’ he said.

The move comes against a backdrop of growing anti-social behaviour in Manchester and wider attempts by the council to crack down on it.

The M.E.N. has in recent weeks reported on gangs of youths terrorising communities in north Manchester and the city centre.

Coun Nigel Murphy, deputy leader of Manchester council, said: “This addi- tional funding will allow us to expand the provision across Manchester when it comes to tackling anti-social behaviour. The £1.5m, delivered over three years, will be directed towards our AntiSocial Behaviour Action Team, which works with communities to tackle the root cause of problems.”

“While this plan is still at an early stage we hope that through this investment we will be able to double our provision in this service. Listening to residents is something we take seriously and we know that anti-social behaviour is having a negative impact on people’s ability to go about their daily lives.”