Reporting ASB

Why report ASB?
Most of us living in either Egham or Englefield Green will have had reason to report Anti-social behaviour (ASB) at some time and it is quite likely that the perpetrators of the incident reported would have been students of Royal Holloway college. Unfortunately, many residents are now suffering from ‘reporting fatigue’ and feel that nothing ever changes in response to complaints submitted to Royal Holloway. However, there are three good reasons why it is important to continue to submit reports of ASB:

Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, reporting an issue that is affecting you is the action most likely to bring a resolution to, and relief from, that issue. If you don’t report it then it’s unlikely that anything will happen.

Secondly, any long term solutions – such as the introduction of an Article 4 Directive and better HMO licencing conditions – that are likely to be put in place to prevent or tackle these problems needs evidence to implement and numbers count.  So, reporting all of the issues that affect you will help to build up a bigger picture of the size and locations of problems in the area so that our Councillors and authorities can use this evidence to help argue a case for appropriate measures.

Thirdly, if your initial report does not result in a cessation of the problem, there are further steps that can be taken in the form of an ASB Case Review (formerly known as a Community Trigger). However, for that to happen, there needs to be a short history of previous incidents being reported so, by reporting all incidents in the first place, then you would have already completed that step.

Unfortunately, reporting ASB was easier said than done.

Confusingly, ASB can be reported to either Runnymede Borough Council (RBC) or Surrey Police and each has a separate reporting section on its website. Further, if you read both websites it appears that neither party seems able to clearly define what constitutes ASB or who it should be reported to. It should be remembered though, that ASB caused by students of Royal Holloway is only one aspect of the ASB that the police and borough council have to deal with. It is however, the one type of ASB that Royal Holloway college has a role in addressing.

If you have an incident of student ASB to report, the last thing you want is to have your report rejected by one agency with a suggestion that you send it to a second agency and then start all over again with the second agency’s online reporting tool – putting up with the ASB is bad enough!  Now though, as a result of work undertaken by our independent councillors liaising with Royal Holloway, RBC and Surrey Police, RBC has agreed to provide a triage function when incidents are reported to their Community Safety team.

How to report
For those with access to the internet through your phone, PC or tablet, you can use the online form here:

https://www.runnymede.gov.uk/antisocial-behaviour-1/antisocial-behaviour/2

If you have a ‘OneAccount’ with RBC then you can sign in as you get started but for others, simply select the ‘Continue as a guest’ option.  Before you start though, please try and have these details to hand:

  • Your contact details
  • The date and time of the incident
  • Where the incident took place
  • What happened
  • How the incident affected you

You can also attach any pictures or video clips you may have to help provide evidence of the event.

Once you submit your report, you will receive a unique reference number which you should keep a note of.

For those that would prefer to report by telephone, call RBC on 01932 838383 and ask to report an incident of ASB but make sure that you have the details to hand (see above) first.  Finally, ensure that you ask for, and receive, a unique reference number for your report which you should make a note of and keep.