RESIDENTS of a Teesside estate are celebrating after securing £70,000 to improve safety at a row of crime-hit shops.

Each weekend, underage drinkers gather at night at Broughton Avenue shops, in Easterside, Middlesbrough, vandalising buildings and intimidating passers-by.

Now Middlesbrough Council and Easterside Community Council have secured £35,000 from a Home Office crime reduction fund and the same amount in European funding to install CCTV and better lighting.

Residents hope the improvements will smarten up the shops and discourage youths from gathering there.

Community council chairman June Goodchild said: "This is not just about anti-social behaviour it's about the look of the shops - they are scruffy and unkempt at the moment. What we are doing is the try to improve the appearance and in doing that we'll hopefully improve the behaviour.

"A minority of kids gather there on a Friday and Saturday night and cause problems. It's happening quite a lot that grown-ups go into the off-licence and buy alcohol for them and the shopkeepers can't do anything about that.

"We are going to take the canopy down in front of the shops and the CCTV will pick up anyone doing that so hopefully it will stop."

Councillor Barry Coppinger, Middlesbrough's executive member for law and order, said the council was committed to tackling crime in Easterside.

"The money means we will be able to put in place measures which shopkeepers and residents saw as priorities. I hope they will make this area safer and more pleasant and reduce their concerns about crime and anti-social behaviour."

The area has also been designated Middlesbrough's first alcohol free zone.

"We are waiting for the signs to come in the next couple of days," said Mrs Goodchild. "Hopefully that will also have an effect. The problems we have got are the same as on any estate but the difference is we are doing something about it."

Residents now hope to achieve funding to dramatically improve the appearance of the whole estate.

Ward councillor David Budd said: "It's sad in a way that we have to put the security measures in first but that is just part of a gigantic package. Our ambition is to make this estate the envy of others."