A COUNCIL has turned to Middlesbrough's crime busting mayor for advice on how to deal with anti-social behaviour in their own authority.

York City Council is impressed by the way Mayor Ray Mallon is tackling the problems caused by gangs of unruly youths such as illegal motorbike riding, drug taking and abusive behaviour.

He has pledged to clean up the streets of Middlesbrough by cracking down on anti-social young people and those who drop litter or daub graffiti on the town's buildings.

The mayor explained his Raising Hope initiative before a party of councillors from York met the town's street wardens and anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) enforcement team yesterday.

"The partnership approach we have adopted in Middlesbrough is proving successful and can work in other parts of the country if the council, police and other agencies are prepared to work together," said Mr Mallon.

"We are always prepared to share ideas with interested parties and it is to the credit of City of York Council that they have taken the trouble to try and seek solutions to the challenges affecting York and other towns and cities in the UK."

Leader of City of York Council Councillor Stephen Galloway was joined by deputy leader Andrew Walker and deputy chief executive Laura McGillivray.

They were able get some ideas on how to tackle problems in areas such as Tang Hall, Chapelfields and Foxwood by visiting the Pallister Park area of Middlesbrough.

"Middlesbrough is an area where it is recognised as being difficult to deal with anti-social behaviour because of problems associated with the historic design of the town, the high levels of deprivation and the high unemployment," said Councillor Galloway.

"But Middlesbrough Council has got an increasingly good reputation of dealing with various types of anti-social behaviour and we are interested in Ray Mallon's policies which have attracted a lot of publicity."

Despite the success of the Mayor's stance on unruly behaviour, he has been criticised for concentrating on issues traditionally handled by police while cuts to services are expected because the social services department overspent by £2.3m last year.

Former deputy leader of Cleveland County Council Bob Pitt said: "It appears that resources are being drained away from the front line to provide things like community support officers. It seems Middlesbrough Council are trying to be a miniature Cleveland constabulary.