AROUND three-quarters of anti-social behaviour complaints from Malvern residents have been dealt with successfully.

The claim by Malvern Hills District Council follows the launch on Tuesday of a Government action plan to tackle anti-social behaviour.

The plan builds on the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill currently before Parliament.

Anti-social behaviour covers a wide range of problems, including truancy, noise pollution and drug abuse.

Under the bill, local authorities that do not work to tackle complaints of anti-social behaviour could be liable to be sued.

However, Coun Clive Smith, MHDC's spokesman for community well-being, says that the authority has nothing to fear.

"We're already working to cut complaints of anti-social behaviour and are making it our focus," he said.

"The action plan will really benefit the community as it will give us more powers to tackle the problems, both as a council and with the South Worcestershire Partnership."

A team of workers, including Malvern Hills District Council's community safety officers Jenny Lawrence and Mark McKay, will be putting the plan into action.

The council's current target is to make it easier for victims of anti-social behaviour to register their complaints.

It has set up a facility on its web-site where victims can fill in a complaint form quickly and easily.

A variety of methods are used to tackle complaints but the most common is for the council to hold a meeting with police and concerned residents and agree a plan of action.

A deadline is then set and progress is reviewed after this date.

Currently, four areas in the district are involved with schemes of this sort.

Another method is to place an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) on the person causing the problem.

This can prevent them from visiting the area where they have caused the disturbance, or automatically sentence them to prison if they repeat their behaviour.

Three people in the area are currently subject to such an order.