An ‘acceptable behaviour contract’ is a written agreement between the person involved in the anti-social behaviour, us and any other relevant agency, for example the police.

This agreement gives a list of anti-social activities in which the person has been involved and which they agree not to continue. Although the contract is not legally binding, if the person continues to act in an anti-social way, we will use the agreement as evidence in future legal action.

If the person causing the nuisance is under 18, we will ask the parent or guardian to sign the agreement with them. If a child under 10 is causing the nuisance, we will make the agreement with the parent. This is known as a ‘parental guidance agreement’.

We can use acceptable behaviour contracts to tackle a wide range of anti-social activities, including:

• harassment;
• verbal abuse;
• criminal damage;
• vandalism;
• noise nuisance;
• threatening behaviour; or
• substance misuse (such as glue sniffing or drug taking).

An agreement will usually last for six months, but we will review it every four weeks. If the person causing the nuisance breaks the agreement, we will start legal action.