TWO people have been arrested in connection with an arson attack on a community centre.

Police made the arrests yesterday after a meeting on the Skerne Park estate, Darlington, to discuss Tuesday's fire.

The town's MP, Alan Milburn, attended the meeting, which was aimed at helping the estate move forward after the fire and encourage residents to work together to stamp out anti-social and criminal behaviour.

Councillor Cyndi Hughes said: "We want to get a united front to show to the community that yes, we can support you, but you need to work with us to stop these things from happening in the future."

Mr Milburn said the problem of anti-social behaviour could not be tackled with one solution and required a variety of approaches.

He said: "You also need a strategy that has the support of all agencies and the most critical element of all - the community."

He heard that residents wanted more funding to provide more activities, events and facilities for young people.

The meeting heard that more volunteers were needed to run activities, and that training packages are available for those who want to get involved.

Mr Milburn stressed that Skerne Park was not full of bad children, that it was a minority causing the problems and that anti-social behaviour was a nationwide problem.

He said he had spoken to the Connexions youth organisation about finding more resources for young people on the estate.

He had met the borough council's chief executive Barry Keel and council leader Councillor John Williams to devise a town-wide strategy to tackle the problem.

Coun Hughes said she and the other ward councillors would send letters to residents on the estate asking for their views and encouraging them to get involved.