Twenty of Bradford's worst families will be made to sign good conduct contracts in a bid to tackle their anti-social behaviour.

A new specialist team will give tailor-made support to each nuisance family - and will have the power to enforce tough rules if they misbehave again.

Bradford was selected by the Government earlier this year to run one of 50 pilot schemes in areas which are known to have high levels of anti-social behaviour.

Some councils will house those who repeatedly cause misery to their neighbours in sin-bins' - but Bradford is adopting an outreach-style programme instead in a scheme funded by a share of £10 million of Home Office cash.

The families will already be well-known to the police, housing groups, education bosses and Bradford Council's anti-social behaviour team.

And the first will be referred in time for the project to begin in January.

The details of the new scheme emerged yesterday as Bradford launched its bid to become a priority Respect Action Area. The Government will make a decision on the pitch in the New Year.

Julie Jenkins, of Bradford Social Services, said the intensive family support project would be very strictly managed with daily contact from one of three key workers. She said: "If there are reports of anti-social behaviour or crime among these families or the kids don't turn up to school we will expect to know about it.

"Our job will be to make sure all the agencies are involved and we will expect to see improvements in their behaviour.

"A large part of the support we offer will be parenting work and enforcement could mean removing their tenancy or a parenting order.

"These will be the most challenging families from across the district and what often happens is that agencies give up on them.

"We have funding to run it for a year. Then we will have to ask the Council for mainstream funding. The idea is that it will be long-term sustainable support."

Mark Carriline, strategic director for children's services and the lead for the Respect Agenda in Bradford, said: "The launch was very successful and we had a lot of committed and interested parties attending who are willing to contribute to the agenda.

"It would be great for Bradford to be selected as a Respect Action Area because it would boost our capacity to deliver on the whole agenda, and in particular it would help us improve services that support parents."

Alex Rhind, of the Home Office's Respect Task Force, attended the Respect Agenda launch at City Hall.

She said: "There is no department in the Council that is not touched by Respect. Delivering the agenda is down to every single one and it is important that there is support at senior level."

She said there have been ten trailblazers and 50 action areas already since the Government's campaign to tackle anti-social behaviour started three years ago.

Public perception of such behaviour is "dramatically" lower in these areas, she said.

"Respect is broader, wider and deeper. Enforcement and support are two sides of the same coin."

As well as the intensive family support project, other key areas being targeted include: promoting good and challenging bad behaviour among young people; improving behaviour and attendance in schools; supporting parents; and promoting "respect" in local neighbourhoods.

Presentations were given on work the Youth Service is doing to promote good behaviour, how Education Bradford is improving behaviour and attendance in schools, a review of parenting support in the district by Barnardo's and respect in neighbourhoods by the neighbourhood support service.

Key speakers at the event included Council chief executive Tony Reeves, Council leader Councillor Kris Hopkins, Bradford South police commander Chief Superintendent Sarah Brown, and Ian Simpson, executive director of Bradford Community Housing Trust.

SCHEMES
  • Prior to the intensive family support pilot projects, six similar schemes proved successful elsewhere in the country.
  • It was found that in 85 per cent of families, complaints about anti-social behaviour had either ceased or reduced.
  • And 92 per cent of the families were found to be a reduced risk or no risk to the local community as a result of the intensive support they had received.