VICTIMS of anti-social behaviour in East Lancashire will soon be given the right to demand persistent troublemaking is dealt with.

Residents will be able to ask for a review into how police, councils, clinical commissioning groups, and social housing providers have handled their reports of anti-social behaviour if they believe the right action hasn’t been taken.

Part of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which comes into effect from Monday, October 20, states that every local authority must offer a Community Trigger, which is aimed at dealing with some of the more persistent, complex cases of anti-social behaviour.

For a review to be triggered by the new act, the anti-social behaviour must have been reported within a month of the alleged incident taking place, and the request for a review must be made within six months of that report.

A government spokesman said: “The range of local agencies involved in tackling anti-social behaviour can lead to uncertainty as to whose responsibility it is to deal with a particular problem.

“As a result, victims can sometimes find themselves being passed from the police to the council to their landlord and back again, or reporting the same problem over and over again. The impact can be devastating.” Tim Horsley, heads up Pendle Borough Council’s Anti-Social Behaviour Team and will be taking referrals when the scheme launches.

He said: “We are in the process of putting together how it will work, designing the trigger, and designing the process. It’s not intended to be a bureaucratic process, it’s a way of getting something sorted out.

“If somebody is being affected by anti-social behaviour, then they a means of following through on that.”

But Hyndburn and Haslingden MP Graham Jones said he had ‘mixed feelings’ about the scheme.

He said: “I’m all for democracy and accountability but there is also the issue of red tape and bureaucracy. Having been a councillor, I know the biggest issue here is cost.”