Anti-Social behaviour

We focus on preventing and stopping ASB before it gets worse.

• Our Street Scene Protection Officers provide a strong presence in the community.
• We work with Essex Restorative & Mediation Service to solve problems through mediation and restorative purposes.
• We educate children and young people on respecting their community.
• We support people with additional needs in managing challenging behaviours
• We clean up graffiti and vandalism quickly.
• We work closely with Essex Police and Housing Associations to ensure a problem-solving approach.

Before taking action, remember: 

• your neighbour may not realise they are causing a problem 
• different people tolerate different levels of noise 
• talking things through can help 

If you have a problem with a neighbour and you feel comfortable to, try speaking to them first.  

Top tips

Talk to your neighbour first

Try to sort the problem informally by speaking or writing to your neighbour. Be calm and polite. Explain the issue and how it affects you. A friendly approach can help avoid bigger problems. 

Ask for help

If talking doesn’t work, contact your housing or leasehold officer. We may suggest a mediation service to help find a solution. 

Report noise problems

If the issue is loud music, barking dogs, or another ongoing noise, you can report it to your local council or housing association who will advise on the next steps to take.

Call the police if needed

If your neighbour is violent or harassing you, report it to the police (this is a crime), but please let your housing association know as well.  

Keep a record

If the problem continues, print our diary sheet to keep notes of what happens, including dates, times, and how it affects you. Let us know if things don’t improve.

CCTV can help protect a person’s property. However, there are some rules that owners should follow.

Where possible owners should position their cameras to only capture their own property. However, if this isn’t possible and the CCTV captures someone else's property, a public area or communal space, then data protection law applies. This is because CCTV can capture images and voices of other people, and this counts as their personal information.

What should I do if I am concerned about a CCTV camera or I’m unhappy about being recorded?

In most cases, the ICO suggests you start by talking or writing to the CCTV owner:

• Explain your concerns – the CCTV owner may not understand why you’re worried about being recorded. If you explain your reasons, they may reposition the cameras.
• Ask why they’re using CCTV – people usually install CCTV to monitor and protect personal property. It can make the person, and their family feel safe. If you understand why they’re recording, it may put your mind at ease.
• Ask if they are using filters or privacy blockers – the CCTV owner might be using filters or privacy blockers to reduce the intrusion to your privacy. This could mean that public spaces and other people’s property might be blurred out of the image.
• Ask to see what they’re recording – the footage captured by the camera may not be as intrusive as you think. Seeing an example of what the camera records may make you feel less concerned.
• Explain what you hope to achieve – if you want to achieve something specific, then politely explain your expectations to the CCTV owner. They might agree or work with you to find a middle ground

Diary sheets are a great way to record what is happening, how often and the impact this has had on yourself and your household.

Please ensure that you pass these diary sheets onto your case officer regularly so they can review the content and consider what action to take. If a case goes to court, (although this is not always necessary to stop the ASB) records of the ASB captured in good detail at the time it happened will help officers handling the case by providing credible, accurate evidence.

How should I report noise nuisance?

Here are some steps you can follow to resolve, or report the noise nuisance:

• Attempt a reasonable discussion with your neighbours (written or verbally) to try and resolve the issue. Only do this is you feel it is appropriate to approach your neighbour.
• If speaking with your neighbour is unsuccessful, or inappropriate, contact Braintree District Council’s Environmental Health Team.
• If the noise is because of frequent visitors linked to criminal activity, then you should contact your housing provider or Braintree District Council.

We strongly recommend you do not retaliate. If you get into a ‘tit-for-tat’ situation (e.g. they play loud music at 2am, so the next night you hoover at 5am, so then the next day they start banging on the walls, etc.) it can quickly get out of control.