A RADICAL scheme to reduce burglary in a town can finally begin after councillors agreed to "front-fund" it.

The Government offered Cleveland Police £173,710 a year ago to implement the Burglary Reduction Initiative in the area.

But a condition of the scheme - that the local authority must put up the cash initially then claim it back from the Home Office - has prevented it from taking effect.

Now Middlesbrough Borough Council has agreed to support it throughout this financial year.

Inspector Brian Cook, of Coulby Newham Police, said yesterday's decision would allow valuable projects to start.

"The bid was first submitted to the Government about two years ago and we started work on the initiative last October," he said. But until now, we have been held up by the funding aspect. I've got things that will progress immediately now that the purse strings have been released."

Middlesbrough is among several towns all over the country to be chosen for the scheme, which will be monitored at every stage.

It will involve the police working in conjunction with the council, along with other groups such as Safe in Teesside, to reduce domestic burglaries by about ten per cent.

The three target areas - Ayresome, Grove Hill and the town centre - will each receive separate grants to focus on five key aims of reducing opportunity, limiting resident offences, disrupting offending, introducing community oriented problem solving and a friends against crime scheme.

Special attention will be paid to reducing burglaries of student accommodation through creating student watches and a crime prevention panel.

Ken Walker, the leader of the council, welcomed the decision to finance the scheme.

"These proposals represent a major step forward in increasing community safety and reducing the fear of crime," he said.