THE idea of a tolerance zone for prostitutes on Teesside has been rejected by officials.

Earlier this year, Liverpool City Council voted by an overwhelming majority in favour of a designated area where prostitutes can trade legally and safely.

Councillors will now take the proposals to the Home Office in a bid to get the law changed so the plans can be pushed through.

With the debate still raging, Cleveland Police continued to arrest prostitutes and kerb crawlers during a two-week purge under the banner of Operation Chariot.

A spokeswoman for the force said: "During the operation, any prostitutes that were arrested were given the opportunity to speak to a drugs counsellor. The majority took the chance of trying to deal with their heroin and crack cocaine addiction."

Wendy Shepherd, who manages a Barnardo's project on Teesside to help young people escape the grip of the vice trade, dismissed the idea of a tolerance zone.

She said: "Tolerance zones are not the way forward; we need to have firmness with regard to policing and access to health and social care, so that women and young people to exit and recover from their experiences.

"We have to continue criminalising the problem and arresting kerb crawlers and pimps."

Both Middlesbrough and Stockton councils have voiced concern about any form of regulated prostitution.

Councillor Barry Coppinger, Middlesbrough Council's member for community safety, said: "Tolerance zones aren't the answer in Middlesbrough and this would be the wrong time to change what is a winning formula to reduce the exploitation and nuisance associated with prostitution and kerb crawling."

Stockton Borough Council's health and social care member, Ann McCoy, believes trying to get prostitutes off the streets permanently is the only solution.