Council chiefs have released more details on the injunctions banning six individuals responsible for some of the problems with street drinking on Armley Town Street.
As reported by The Dispatch last week, the injunction orders were secured at Leeds County Court and mean means that for a two-year period, five individuals will not be able to visit Town Street. An injunction order against another individual was secured at court last month.
Police will be closely monitoring each of the injunctions to ensure they are actively enforced. Failure by any of the group to comply with the injunction could result in a significant fine or prison.
Details of the injuntions come the same day as Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves emailed local residents who took part in a survey on the future of Town Street.
She said the first meeting of the steering group to drive forward the Armley Town Street Revival Plan is set to meet at Armley Library at 3.30pm on Wednesday, 30 September. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
In the email, Ms Reeves said the steering group will meet weekly for next month.
Special guest at the first meeting will be Bill Graham, of New Wortley Community Centre, who has had previous experience of dealing with similar issues to the ones on Town Street. There will be a second public meeting to review progress in November.
In a press release about the injunctions released by the council, Councillor Mark Dobson, Leeds City Council’s executive board member with responsibility for Safer Leeds, said:
“I hope the steps that have been taken last week … send out a clear message to any other person or group who think they too can get away with making the lives of people a misery, of the steps we are willing to take to put a stop to anti-social behaviour in any shape or form.”
Inspector Simon Jessup, who heads the Inner West Neighbourhood Policing Team, added:
“The granting of the injunctions is a really positive step forward in our ongoing work to tackle the issues of street drinking and related anti-social behaviour in Armley Town Street.
“The individuals we have targeted are the main offenders whose behaviour has been a real blight on the area for some time. These injunctions are a powerful additional tool and we will be working closely with our partner agencies, with the support of local businesses and residents, to take action over any breaches.
“At the same time we are working with other agencies, such as charitable organisations that provide outreach work to people with alcohol dependency, as we recognise this is not a situation that enforcement action alone can resolve.
“We remain firmly committed to doing everything we can alongside our partner agencies to improve the situation and will continue to make full use of the available legislation to target those whose behaviour has an ongoing detrimental impact on local communities.”
To anti-social behaviour in the daytime call 0113 222 4402 or West Yorkshire Police on 101.
