Anti-social behaviour and Community Trigger

What is Anti-social behaviour?

Working to ensure everyone living in Adur and Worthing feels safe is about more than reducing crime. Anti-social behaviour can have a real impact on people's quality of life, which is why tackling it is one of the Safer Communities Partnership's key priorities.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 defines anti-social behaviour as:

  • conduct that has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person
  • conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to a person in relation to that person's occupation of residential premises, or
  • conduct capable of causing housing-related nuisance or annoyance to any person

Examples of anti-social behaviour can include:

  • noise nuisance
  • verbal abuse
  • threatening behaviour
  • harassment and intimidation
  • harm to property or environment, ie: vandalism, graffiti, abandoned cars

The following are not generally considered to be examples of anti-social behaviour:

  • young people playing in parks
  • family or neighbour disputes
  • inconsiderate parking
  • disputes over property or boundaries
  • business activities associated with either commercial or private premises

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Report anti-social behaviour

Incidents of anti-social behaviour can be reported to either Sussex Police or Adur & Worthing Councils:

Report to Sussex Police:

If a crime is in progress or someone is in immediate danger, please call 999.

Non-urgent matters can be reported by calling 101 or online:

Report a crime - on the Sussex Police website

Report to Adur & Worthing Councils:

Anyone living, working or visiting Adur and Worthing can report an incident of anti-social behaviour to us online:

Report anti-social behaviour (online eform)

Or by calling: 01273 263356

Note: If you are an Adur Homes tenant or leaseholder, please report it to Adur Homes

In order for us to deal effectively with anti-social behaviour we need to have accurate and detailed information about where and when incidents are taking place, and who is involved. We recommend keeping a log of incidents, using the form below:

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What happens when you report anti-social behaviour to us

When you report anti-social behaviour to us, we will:

  • contact you within three working days
  • provide you with the details of who will be dealing with your complaint
  • record the details of your complaint and investigate to see if it's anti-social behaviour (as defined in our anti-social behaviour policy, see below)
  • discuss your options and agree actions with you
  • provide you and any witnesses with appropriate support
  • keep in touch with you by your preferred method (eg text, email, letter or phone)
  • treat the information you give us in line with GDPR (see our privacy statement)
  • ask for your feedback about how we handled your complaint

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Anti-social behaviour Policy

To find out more about how we deal with anti-social behaviour please see:

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Community Trigger

Community Trigger is a process which enables you to ask the Safer Communities Partnership to review their response to reports of anti-social behaviour.

You can use the Community Trigger if you (as an individual) have reported three separate incidents to the council, police or a registered housing provider (social landlord) within the last six months and feel no action has been taken.

The Trigger does not replace the complaints procedures of individual organisations, or your opportunity to complain to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) or Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

You can request a Community Trigger in one of the following ways:

Complete and return the form:

Call 101 ext 581744 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm)

Email safer.communities@adur-worthing.gov.uk

Write to us:

  • Adur & Worthing Councils,
    Safer Communities Team,
    Worthing Town Hall,
    Chapel Road,
    Worthing,
    West Sussex,
    BN11 1HA

You will need to provide the following information:

  • dates of each time you've made a report
  • who you made the report to (name, organisation and/or incident reference number)
  • details of the incident you reported

What happens when you request a Community Trigger?

Following a Community Trigger request, the Safer Communities team will work with any other agencies involved to review the original report(s) of anti-social behaviour and what actions have been considered and taken. Following this review you will receive a report of the outcome explaining the action taken so far, along with suggestions for how the issue can be resolved.

The Community Trigger is not a complaint procedure. If you are not satisfied with the review of your case you can lodge a complaint with the organisation concerned.

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Anti-social behaviour casework statistics

Adur & Worthing Councils are often asked, via Freedom of Information Requests, to share details of the volume of the number of cases we deal with and/or how we use the enforcement tools available to tackle anti-social behaviour.

We have collated a range of data that provides answers to the most commonly asked questions and requests for statistical current and historical data. We have collated the information below to show the number of:

  • Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) reports
  • Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs)
  • Community Protection Warnings (CPWs)
  • Community Protection Notices (CPNs)
  • Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs)
  • Multi-agency Anti-Social Behaviour case reviews (also known as Community Trigger)
  • Breaches and Enforcement/Penalties

Please see:

If you require any further information relating to this information, please email:

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Useful websites and links

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Page last updated: 06 March 2024

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