Elected Member Briefing - Community Support and Enforcement Team and Visitor Management

About this Briefing Note

Report by: Elaine Ritchie, Strategic Lead - Housing and Communities

Date: 04 June 2026

Details

Purpose

This Briefing Note provides an overview of the updated offer to communities by the Community Support and Enforcement Team following the additional in-year non recurring funding agreed at the Finance and Resources Committee meeting last month.

Briefing Information 

Introduction

At the Finance and Resources Committee held on Wednesday 22 April 2026, it was resolved that additional in‑year, non‑recurring funding of £150k be approved from the Communities Earmarked Reserve, bringing the total additional funding for 2026/2027 to £200k. This funding will support the Community Support and Enforcement Team to recruit additional staff resource to tackle anti‑social behaviour (ASB), including investment in additional Visitor Rangers, and to invest in appropriate technology.

The purpose of this investment is to increase visibility and enable more flexible deployment of officers at hotspot locations and in related roles. This enhanced capacity is central to the Council's wider approach to preventing and tackling ASB across Perth and Kinross.

The additional resources will therefore support both visitor management objectives and the wider community safety priorities set out through the Task Force.

At the same Committee, officers were asked to clarify the funding that has been provided for visitor management.

Our Commitment in 2026

Our Visitor Management Offer forms a key operational delivery arm of the Council's broader strategy to address ASB, supporting both seasonal and year‑round community safety challenges.

While tourism brings significant economic and cultural benefits, it can also contribute to, or exacerbate, anti‑social behaviour, particularly in high‑footfall areas and city centre locations.

Our approach focuses on early intervention, visible deterrence, and coordinated partnership working, ensuring that communities feel safe and supported.

Officer Presence and Cover

What we will provide:

• A team of up to six uniformed Visitor Rangers providing a highly visible presence in identified hot spot areas over a 30-week period during summer 2026, operating 36 hours per week.
• Monitoring and enforcement of clearways by Community Support and Enforcement Officers.
• Proactive engagement with and early intervention in relation to anti-social behaviour by both Visitor Rangers and Community Support and Enforcement Officers.
• A guaranteed weekly check-in with local community and interest groups to maintain dialogue, share intelligence and respond to emerging concerns. • Targeted deployment during peak visitor periods, including weekends, holidays, and periods of heightened risk (for example, periods of increased wildfire risk).
• Enhanced surge capacity through integration of Visitor Rangers and Community Support and Enforcement officers with the wider Housing and Communities workforce. By summer 2026, the overall team will include up to six Visitor Rangers and 13 Community Support and Engagement Officers per shift, alongside a senior officer. This will provide flexibility and rapid response, with the ability to coordinate activity alongside street cleansing, unpaid work team, and Housing Services handypeople and caretakers, where appropriate.
• Co-ordination of a monthly multi-agency forum involving Communities teams, Scottish Fire and Rescue, and Police Scotland to monitor concerns, assess impact and agree collective actions.

Why this matters

• Boots on the ground provides reassurance to residents across Perth and Kinross.
• A visible and consistent presence helps prevent issues escalating and improves compliance with local rules and expectations.
• Council officers provide a clear and accessible first point of contact for both residents and visitors.
• Strong coordination and communication across Council services and partner agencies supports a more joined‑up and effective response to anti‑social behaviour.

Role and Remit of Officers

Visitor Rangers and Community Support and Enforcement Officers will operate as part of a coordinated and integrated service, with the following core responsibilities:

• Positively engaging with visitors to promote responsible behaviour and respect for local communities.
• Detering antisocial behaviour, including inappropriate parking, littering, unsafe camping and the lighting of fires.
• Providing early intervention to address issues on the ground and prevent escalation.
• Gathering intelligence on emerging issues and pressure points to inform service planning and targeted responses.
• Supporting enforcement activity, where necessary, working in close coordination with relevant Council services and external partners.
• Acting as community ambassadors, balancing a welcome approach with clear and consistent expectations.

While the visitor season brings particular pressures, the Community Support and Enforcement Team's role is not limited solely to seasonal or tourism‑related issues. Officers may also be deployed to address low‑level antisocial behaviour affecting residents, businesses and year‑round visitors where this forms part of an identified hotspot and where early intervention, reassurance and engagement can prevent escalation.

Officers will therefore not work in isolation but as part of a joined‑up, multi‑service approach across the Council and with a range of partner agencies.

Support for Residents in Hot Spot Areas

Hotspot locations will be identified based on evidence of community impact and operational need and will include both urban and rural areas. Locations will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, allowing resources to be flexibly deployed in response to emerging pressures rather than being limited to a fixed list of sites. Residents in communities experiencing issues, can expect:

• A visible, uniformed staff presence at known hotspot locations.
• Timely action when issues are reported.
• Clear and accessible routes to report concerns, with confidence that issues will be followed up.
• Practical mitigation measures, where appropriate and within available budgets, including the coordination around waste management, signage, and supporting infrastructure.
• Provision of portable toilets, where required.
• Ongoing engagement with communities, ensuring local feedback shapes how the service is deployed and prioritised.

Overall, the approach is founded on prevention, reassurance, and fairness, with enforcement applied proportionately and only where necessary. Our offer is delivered through strong partnership working, recognising that no single service can manage visitors and anti-social behaviour alone.

We will work closely with:

• Police Scotland - on antisocial behaviour, public order, and community safety.
• The City Centre Task Force to ensure alignments of priorities, effective data sharing and coordinated deployment of resources. • Scottish Fire and Rescue Service - particularly around wildfire prevention, fire safety, and risk periods.
• Waste and Environmental Services - to manage litter, waste capacity, and environmental impacts.
• Forestry and Land Scotland / Landowners - where visitor pressures affect land management.
• Local communities and community groups - ensuring local knowledge informs responses and builds resilience.
• Scottish Government, NatureScot and National Access Forum - management of "dirty campers" and wild camping- new legislation to address the current issues.
• Neighbouring/partner National Parks - to share intelligence on emerging issues and those which take place within the Perth and Kinross Council area and/or on our borders.

This partnership approach allows:

• Coordinated patrols and joint action.
• Clear escalation routes when issues cannot be resolved on site.
• Efficient use of resources and shared intelligence.
• Potential to have a national approach to visitor management.

What Success Looks Like

• Reduced complaints and fewer repeat issues in hot spot areas.
• Reduced levels and reports of anti-social behaviour.
• Improved visitor behaviour and compliance.
• Stronger relationships between communities, services, and partners.
• A balanced approach that protects communities while supporting a sustainable visitor economy.
• Strong alignment and delivery against City Centre Task Force objectives.

How success will be evidenced

Effectiveness and value for money will be demonstrated through a clear set of quantitative and qualitative measures, covering the following areas: 

Stakeholder feedback and satisfaction

Regular feedback will be gathered from key partners, including Communities teams, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and Police Scotland, to assess the impact on community reassurance, partnership working, and the management of antisocial behaviour.

Visible activity and coverage

A detailed log of patrols undertaken, including location, frequency, and timing, will demonstrate officer presence in hotspot areas and provide assurance that resources are being deployed where they are most needed.

Front‑line engagement and early intervention

Records of interactions with visitors will evidence the scale of engagement activity, the preventative nature of the approach, and the emphasis on early intervention over enforcement.

Focused use of resources

Intelligence gathered on recurring issues and pressure points will inform targeted deployment, ensuring staff time and funding are directed to areas of highest impact.

Redeployable CCTV

Investment in technology to assist with monitoring short term hot spots.

Demand and incident trends

Trends in reported antisocial behaviour and repeat issues in hotspot areas will be monitored to assess whether early engagement and visible presence are contributing to reduced escalation and demand on statutory services.

Taken together, these measures will provide clear assurance that the additional investment is delivering tangible benefits for communities, improving partnership responses, and making effective use of public funds.

Governance and Oversight

In line with statements made during the Council debate, the operation and effectiveness of the Visitor Management offer will be subject to ongoing oversight by the Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee. This will include regular reporting on delivery, deployment, outcomes, and value for money, alongside opportunities for Members to scrutinise how the approach is working in practice and to shape future priorities.

Post note meeting - progress to date

By the end of May, we have successfully recruited three Rangers, are finalising recruitment for additional posts, undertaking scoping for further CCTV measures, and have put arrangements in place for portable toilets, with over £100k of funding already committed.

Funding Overview 

To clarify the information provided at Committee, the previous administration's Budget motion in 2021 included £240,000 for Visitor Management in 2021/22 with a commitment for another £240,000 the following financial year. In 2021/2022 this was supplemented with a £150,000 Scottish Government grant. The overspend on Visitor Management for 2025/26 was in Appendix 2 of April's papers and stood at £105,000.