EFFORTS to make Hartlepool a safer place to live have received a major boost.

Councillors have approved funding of £10,000 for a programme of improvements to street lighting across the town.

The Social Lighting programme was launched in 1999 and since then around £60,000 has been spent on 77 streetlights.

The latest allocation, approved by the grants committee of Hartlepool Borough Council, is expected to fund a further ten lights.

The money is being made available from the council's capital budget for 2002/2003, part of which has been set aside to support community safety projects.

Alison Mawson, community safety strategy officer, said: "We aim to target areas that have been reported as suffering from crime and other anti-social behaviour problems to try to improve the quality of residents' lives.

"We are committed to making the town a safer place to live and work and this is one of the schemes we hope will help us achieve that."

Letters inviting suggestions for where the new lights should be placed are to be sent to councillors and parish councils.

Requests already received by the council's street lighting section will be considered along with referrals from the police and neighbourhood watch co-ordinators.