DURHAM'S MP has pledged to tackle anti-social behaviour across the district following the Prime Minister's announcement of his Respect campaign.

Labour's Roberta Blackman-Woods is looking at hotspots, where residents are fed-up with trouble and vandalism, to see what can be done.

She went to Prince Charles Avenue in Bowburn, where a semi-derelict building next to a Co-op Store has long been a haven for youths who are bothering neighbours, to launch a city-wide Respect campaign.

Mrs Blackman-Woods is visiting other trouble spots to tell residents what options are open to tackle problems and bring authorities and police together to help out.

But she stressed that not all young people were troublemakers, and that they should be listened to when they said what facilities and services they would like.

She said: "You have to have the carrot and stick approach.

"It is about saying to people that we should be respectful and that there are adverse consequences if they are not.

"One of these might be that they are not allowed to congregate in a certain place if they are causing problems.''