MORE than 200 delegates from around the country converged on the North-East to learn the secrets of a town's success in tackling crime and disorder.

Middlesbrough mayor and former detective Ray Mallon hosted a conference to show how his Raising Hope initiative had helped make the town a safer and better place.

The project has led to the creation of the largest community protection force in the UK through a street warden service and dramatic reductions in crime and disorder.

Delegates from government agencies, councils, police forces and fire brigades were welcomed to the conference by Lord Mackenzie, chairman of the House of Lords Home Affairs Committee and a former Durham Police chief superintendent.

They were told how sharing intelligence between the council, police, fire brigade and other agencies had helped cut crime by 16.3 per cent last year and house burglaries by 26 per cent.

Mr Mallon said: "Middlesbrough has taken an important lead in tackling issues which are our own community's number one priority and are high on the agenda in towns and cities across the country. We are leading the way in partnership working and I am very pleased we can share what we have learned - and our successes - with so many other agencies."

Middlesbrough Council's head of community protection service, Ed Chicken, and Alex Rhind, of the Home Office Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, were among the speakers.

Mr Chicken said: "Raising Hope is about recognising how crucial it is to use everything at your disposal to improve things, not wasting a single opportunity and reversing any negative outlook that people have got.

"It is about making the town better and making people believe it is getting better when it genuinely is."