Westminster Council has gone on the offensive to tackle persistent beggars and the anti-social behaviour associated with rough-sleepers.

On Monday (October 14) the council teamed up with the Metropolitan Police for ‘Operation Encompass’, which resulted in 15 arrests and 60 persons 'engaged with'.

It is also calling on the Government to tackle foreign begging gangs who target the capital, and to rethink plans to abolish antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs).

Cllr Nickie Aiken, cabinet member for community protection, said: "No one should have to run a gauntlet of beggars in any part of Westminster. Neither should people living or working here be confronted by the mess and waste they

leave behind. These problems are currently costing Westminster Council alone about £500,000 a year – and that’s not acceptable."

She said there are services available for rough sleepers and an outreach team which works nightly to assist rough sleepers in finding alternatives to the streets. Westminster Council also works with the London Reconnection Project

to help the most vulnerable rough sleepers from the European Union get home to their country of origin and link in with appropriate services there.

Cllr Aiken has written to the new Home Office minister, Norman Baker MP, to warn of the consequences of the proposed Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Bill which, as it stands, will abolish ASBOs.

She said this would strip local authorities of "the few levers we have at our disposal" and could lead to the capital's streets becoming a "playground for those who choose to come and aggressively beg in central London”.

Cllr Aiken wrote: "In our experience, tackling antisocial behaviour often involves dealing with organised aggressive begging gangs from across the European Union. Individuals travel to the UK in large numbers with the sole intention of

doing a short, but profitable begging stint before returning to their home.

"These people enter the UK according to their rights as EU citizens and cannot currently be deported unless they remain in the country longer than three months or commit a criminal offence. Whilst they are in the UK, and

particularly whilst they are in central London, they have no fixed address and are completely transient in nature."

She continued: "Where we have previously dealt with such individuals through ASBOs on application, under [a future] system we will only be able to apply for an arrest warrant after a breach has occurred, by which time the individual

in question will invariably have left the country unchallenged. These people are deliberately ‘off-grid’ and we must have legislation in place which closes this potential loophole and does not actively encourage gaming of the system."

Cllr Aiken also called for major European cities to reach consensus on cross-border antisocial behaviour.

Monday's acton saw Westminster street wardens, police and UK Borders Agency officers starting at Charing Cross Police station and visiting locations across Westminster – including: Hungerford bridge, Strand Underpasses,

Victoria Street, Dean Street, Oxford Circus and others. Of the 15 arrests eight were charged and one cautioned, and one was arrested for breaching their ASBO.