FAMILIES who claim their neighbourhood will be hit if a scheme for a big probation service headquarters goes ahead, have mounted a big campaign against it.

Residents in Barwick Street, Scarborough, fear their lives could be made a misery by burglars, drug addicts and sex offenders they have told the borough council which is to make a decision on a planning application for the scheme in nearby Brook Square.

Mother Nicki Langley, one of the organisers, said: "We fear the community in this area will be at risk. We have been told that the centre will be used by as many as 500 offenders from the Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale areas."

However, Roz Brown, the chief probation officer for North Yorkshire, said: "I understand the residents' concerns but I believe they are unfounded. We have an office in every North Yorkshire town and there is no record of any offences where they have opened in residential areas."

The proposed new centre will replace the probation office in Falsgrave Road, and will be close to Scarborough Law Courts and the new headquarters of The Samaritans.