Crackdown on parents who ‘don’t give a damn’

Dudley Council’s leader promised to crack down on parents who ‘don’t give a damn’ about their badly behaved teenagers.

Cllr Patrick Harley made the pledge during a meeting of the authority’s Housing and Assets Scrutiny Committee on January 15.

The committee was debating the council’s spending plans for next year including how tough new measures to tackle antisocial behaviour (ASB) by council tenants would be paid for.

The new policy, which Cllr Harley claims will be ‘one of the toughest of any council in England’, includes measures to evict council tenants who repeatedly misbehave.

Cllr Caroline Reid told the committee: “My concerns are around families who can’t control some of their children or they are disabled or have health issues.

“Sometimes it is not the actual tenant who is causing the issue; we have all come across it – a father who can’t control a teenager, they could now be penalised with their tenancy how are we going to solve that?”

Cllr Harley said: “Part of that policy will be there for parents who need help because their kids are unmanageable, we have got a case where parents are having a horrendous time.

“There are also parents who don’t give a damn what their children are getting up to and in that policy, if you are the tenant and you don’t give a damn, we will take measures against you because you are responsible for the actions of your child.”

The ASB policy, which is set to go before the council’s cabinet, will include using drones to track off-road bikes, a new surveillance vehicle, mobile cameras and extra enforcement officers.

Councillors also plan to take court action to evict problem tenants, a strategy which could prove expensive.

Cllr Harley said: “The largest cost to this policy will be taking a gamble, and it is a gamble, taking people before a judge to say ‘you have misbehaved and we are not prepared to house you any more.”