RESIDENTS are being urged to support an initiative to tackle crime and improve community safety in Hartlepool.

Questionnaires have been delivered to hundreds of homes in the Burbank area asking for people's views on crime and the type of measures they feel would improve their lives.

The survey is being carried out by Hartlepool Borough Council, on behalf of the Hartlepool Community Safety Partnership, and the information gathered will be used to shape policy.

The questionnaires were delivered by the council's community wardens and householders are being asked to return completed forms in the accompanying pre-paid envelopes, by Friday.

It is intended to repeat the exercise in a year's time.

Community safety strategy officer Alison Mawson said: "It is important any work we carry out to improve life in the Burbank area actually meets the needs of the people living there and that is why their views are so important.

"By drawing on their experiences, concerns and ideas, we can hopefully come up with schemes that people feel confident about.

"I believe that with everyone pulling in the same direction we can begin to have an impact on some of the problems affecting the area."

Burbank suffers from a house burglary rate that is three times the national average and other issues include poor street lighting, overgrown shrubs and empty properties.

A number of agencies are already actively involved in work to improve residents' lives and proposed measures include installing two security cameras funded by the Government's Communities Against Drugs initiative.

There are also plans to use offenders on community service to carry out work such as graffiti removal and shrub planting.