Plight of tenants blighted by anti-social behaviour by SNP, Labour and Lib Dems

In their amendments to respond to a Conservative Housing motion debated in the chamber today, the SNP, Labour and the Liberal Democrats all chose to delete the reference to tackling anti-social behaviour.

The Conservative motion also argued for the need for legislative reform not just to re-instate Right to Buy and look at locality allocation issues but also to address the growing and vexing problem of homelessness.

Speaking after the debate, Scottish Conservative Local Government Spokesperson, Margaret Mitchell MSP said:

"Every MSP is aware of the problems anti-social behaviour causes in flats, houses and communities across the country and during my speech I highlighted one such harrowing experience from my Central Scotland constituency.

It was, therefore, very revealing that none of the other parties saw fit to keep the reference to anti-social behaviour in their amendments or even bothered to raise the issue during the debate.

Not only this but as far back as 2008 the SNP government took the decision not to collect statistics on the use of anti-social behaviour orders and use anti-social behaviour remedies.

Instead it chose to develop a voluntary performance framework and to focus on early intervention and preventative strategies rather than enforcement and criminal punishment.

However, to date there has been very little evidence of early intervention or prevention strategies delivering for people who are suffering from the blight of anti-social neighbours.

It is evident that despite having been in power for nearly 5 years tackling anti-social behaviour is not a priority for this government. No surprise then that the SNP government has done nothing to make sure that tenancy agreements are enforced by local authorities, so that, at the first sign of trouble, warnings are issued and respectable law-abiding tenants know that housing officials are on to the perpetrators.

Nor has the SNP Government made any attempt to ensure that local authorities' allocation policies are proportionate and sensible and protect elderly and other tenants from having their lives totally disrupted by anti-social behaviour.

Quite simply if the other parties will not make this a priority then the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party will; so that all responsible tenants and hardworking families can be sure we are on their side."

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