OXFORD City Council is to be commended for implementing the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 and evicting a family in Cowley for persistent antisocial behaviour – albeit any praise has to be tempered by the fact that it has taken them three years to use it.

Antisocial behaviour is a national problem and it seems to many that the law, and the enforcers of it, favour the irresponsible over the law-abiding, leading many members of a community to experience a similar deterioration of their lives as those in Kersington Crescent, Cowley.

The wish expressed in your editorial that: “It may well send a message to other families blighting their neighbourhoods to pull their heads in or they could be next” is one every responsible resident will readily give support to, but the realist in me is not optimistic.

As in this case, what needs to be done is for all residents affected by such families to demand that the responsible authorities, using the full powers available to them, take immediate action to put an end to the antisocial behaviour.

If that means eviction, so be it.

For too long, I believe, this has not been the case; as mentioned above the perception is the opposite.

Success in dealing with persistent antisocial behaviour will only come when a policy of zero tolerance towards its practitioners is put into effect. Then, and only then, will they begin to believe in the efficacy of the law.

RAY JAMES, Chairman, Rose Hill Tenants & Residents’ Association, Mortimer Road, Rose Hill