GOVERNMENT funding to combat anti-social behaviour will see the first anti-social behaviour co-ordinator appointed in County Durham.

The £50,000 funding to the Wear and Tees Community Safety Partnership will allow Phil Shaw, a former policeman and enforcement officer with Middlesbrough Council, to work as the co-ordinator. It will also pay for the appointment of a support officer.

Mr Shaw will cover the geographic areas of Teesdale and Wear Valley in his job, and hopes to reduce by ten per cent the number of incidents of anti-social behaviour and criminal damage by next year.

Although he has a range of enforcement options available to him, such as Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) and relocation, Mr Shaw believes the key to reducing anti-social behaviour is to look at what is causing it.

He said: "We really want ASBOs and the like to be a last resort. We want to be looking at education and diversion before we take any action.

"I'll also be talking to young people and seeing what they want, as very often they are as much a victim of anti-social behaviour as everyone else."

Mr Shaw's role will involve creating strong links with all those involved in the partnership such as youth inclusion projects, local councils, landlords and the police, and providing an overall strategy for combating anti-social behaviour.

Elaine Baker, the partnership's community safety co-ordinator, said: "Often the thing that impacts most on people's quality of life is anti-social behaviour, and this can vary from a couple of kids sitting on the garden wall of an elderly resident to a gang of youths terrorising a street, or estate."

While many people believe anti- social behaviour is limited to the larger estates in Wear Valley, Mr Shaw said it was as much a problem in some of the rural areas of the county.

He said: "Unless you've got a parent who's willing to drive you places, there's nothing for kids there to do. What we want to do is find things for young people to do before they even begin offending."

Mr Shaw will be based at the Community Safety Unit, in Proudfoot Drive, Woodhouse Close, Bishop Auckland.