Plans to 'chase down yobs with drones' in crackdown on anti-social behaviour in Dudley

The tactic is part of a tough new set of policies to be put before the authority’s cabinet at their meeting on December 10.

The plans also includes a mobile control unit to be parked in yob hotspots, covert surveillance and action to prevent problem families from getting council homes.

Dudley Council’s leader, Cllr Patrick Harley, said: “With our new policy we can try every weapon at our disposal to make the borough a better place to live.

“Off-road bikes are an absolute bane on peoples’ lives. Police can’t chase them, council officers can’t chase them so we are going to use some of the money we have saved over the last two years to purchase some drones.

“These drones can identify where off-road bikes are, who is using them and follow them to where they are being stored, where the little toerags live and, working with the police, arrest them and confiscate the bikes.”

Yobs will also face the arrival of a command centre in troubled neighbourhoods.

Cllr Harley said: “It will be parked in areas where we have had reports of anti-social behaviour, hopefully that will act as a deterrent.”

The council’s Conservative leader is also aiming to put surveillance equipment in an unmarked vehicle.

He said: “Also we can purchase a cheaper mobile unit, we can park that where we have had lots of fly-tipping for instance.”

Nuisance neighbours are in the Conservatives’ sights with new resources planned for anti-social behaviour teams to put together court cases to overrule the council’s duty to house everyone.

Cllr Harley said: “On those extreme cases we can permanently exclude them from either bidding on a council property or residing in one.”

Under the new policy the qualification for social housing would extend from living or working in the borough for three years to seven or even ten years.