THE Safer Stockton Partnership has been overwhelmed by the response to its recent public consultation exercise.

Residents were asked to voice their concerns about crime and disorder issues which affect their lives and communities.

More than 2,500 responses were received by the partnership - far more than anticipated.

Chief Superintendent Kevin Pitt, police district commander for Stockton and chairman of the partnership, said: "We set a target of 1,500 responses, which we thought would be hard to meet.

"In fact, we got more than 2,500 responses by the closing date.

"We are very grateful to everybody who took the trouble to respond and to all the community groups, parish councils and schools and colleges who helped us."

The questionnaire was included in the Crime and Disorder Special magazine, Tackling Crime and Disorder, that was distributed to households across the borough.

Stockton was the first partnership in the region to produce its audit document which provides information on crime and disorder levels across the borough over the past three years.

Councillor Steve Nelson, the council's cabinet member for housing and community safety and vice chairman of the partnership, said: "The next phase of the work is to analyse all the responses and see what issues local people are concerned about.

"The last audit in 1998 showed that residents identified six key areas they wanted us to work on.

"We will base our plan of work on crime and disorder for the next three years on the results of the latest questionnaire.