A COMMUNITY scheme has proved so successful it is to be extended throughout the whole of Easington district.

The award winning Street Wardens Scheme has been running in Easington Colliery, Horden and west of the area for the past three years. The ground breaking project was initially launched to tackle anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood problems.

Over its three year span the pilot scheme has helped reduce instances of arson, abandoned vehicles and problems such as dog fouling, fly tipping and littering.

The wardens have also carried out intervention work in neighbourhoods as well as giving support to the district's skate park project.

Now thanks to the availability of extra funding the initiative is to be extended to cover the whole of Easington district and a further ten wardens have been recruited to help cover the much wider area.

To introduce the new schemes to the new areas teams are preparing to first visit Murton and Hawthorn from to-day until Friday, November 12. They will then move on to Seaham and Dawdon between Monday November 15 and Friday November 19.

On Monday November 22 until Friday November 26 the team will move on to Peterlee finally visiting Blackhall, Blackhall Rocks, Hesleden, Monk Hesleden, High Hesleden and Castle Eden on Monday November 29 until Friday December 3.

The wardens will be patrolling the streets, visiting residents in their homes and calling in at shops, community centres, libraries and schools to talk about their role and aims of the initiative.

Coun George Patterson, Executive Member for the Environment on Easington District Council said yesterday: The street warden schemes have been a huge success and we are delighted to be able to expand them to cover the whole of the district.'' He added: " We believe residents will benefit greatly from these dedicated officers who will help to improve the quality of life and the environment.''

The new move to extend the scheme comes just days after the initial project was awarded the prestigious quality mark by the office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Neighbourhood Renewal Unit.