For the second time in a couple of months, Barking and Dagenham Council has moved on a group of individuals who were causing antisocial behaviour underneath Ripple Road fly-over.



The council’s enforcement team became aware of the group congregating under the fly-over on Friday 5 August and on the following Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, enforcement officers visited to carry out welfare checks on each of the individuals.



During the visits, the officers spoke to each person there and provided them with information about where they could get further support from external agencies for things such as housing and benefits. Officers also made them aware that they were not allowed to congregate under the flyover and if they didn’t move on further action would be taken.



The council’s enforcement team returned on Thursday 11 August with the police and found three individuals still there. All three were issued with Community Protection Warnings and moved away from the area.



Councillor Syed Ghani, Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety said: “This was another great piece of work between the council and police, which is something we’re looking to do more regularly and why we launched our Safer Barking and Dagenham campaign with them earlier this year. These people were provided with further support and made to move on within a week of the council finding out about them.



“We know that some people do fall on hard times and we will always look to provide them with addition support to get them back on their feet, but if they ignore our support and continue to cause antisocial behaviour, we will take action.”



Back in June, the council and police removed an illegal encampment from the exact same place and completely cleared up the area. As this is the second time, the council will be keeping an eye on the area.



If a resident is concerned about people causing antisocial behaviour, they should report it to the council online.