THE cost to British taxpayers of dealing with anti-social behaviour has rocketed to £3.4bn a year, a major North-East conference was told yesterday.

Louise Casey, the head of the Home Office's anti-social behaviour unit, revealed the impact on public services as politicians, police and council chiefs joined forces to demand an end to the problem.

The conference was held in Darlington, where incidents have almost doubled in the past two years.

Anti-social behaviour has escalated in the region, with curfews restricting youngsters' movements introduced in Seaham, Middlesbrough and Redcar.

Ms Casey insisted that there would be no let-up in efforts to stamp out the problem, with Home Office figures showing it affected the quality of life of one in three people.

The unit came into being last year after research uncovered that 66,000 incidents of anti- social behaviour were reported nationally in only one day.

Ms Casey said: "The consequences of not tackling this are staggering. A small minority of people can destroy a whole community and we need to tackle such behaviour head-on."

She also criticised civil rights group Liberty, which is planning a High Court action against Cumbria Police for a night-time street ban imposed on under-16s in Wigton.

Ms Casey said: "Wouldn't it be good if somebody thought about the human rights of the people on the end of utter misery?"

Darlington MP Alan Milburn said anti-social behaviour was the main concern raised by his constituents "by a factor of ten", but stressed that only a small minority was causing problems.