AN initiative aimed at removing unsightly graffiti and making Hartlepool a cleaner town is to be launched.

An anti-graffiti squad is to take to the streets following a successful bid by Hartlepool Borough Council officers for European funding.

The scheme is being run by the council in partnership with the National Probation Service - Teesside, and the squad will be manned by offenders from Hartlepool on Community Punishment Orders, supervised by a full-time co-ordinator.

The £100,000 scheme which will initially run for two years, is being funded through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) with additional support from the National Probation Service - Teesside and the Hartlepool Community Safety Partnership.

Stuart Drummond, Mayor of Hartlepool, said: "The image of the town has come on leaps and bounds in recent years and it is important we don't allow all the progress we have made to be ruined by the mindless minority who indulge in acts of vandalism, including daubing graffiti on walls. The members of the anti-graffiti squad will be offenders from the town, so this initiative gives them a chance to make amends by putting something back into the community."

It is estimated about 150 local offenders on Community Punishment Orders will become involved with the squad during the two years of the scheme.

The council is awaiting delivery of the equipment, which blasts hot water under high pressure and can also be used to remove fly-posters and chewing gum from pavements, and it hopes to have the scheme up and running by the end of May.

Craig Thelwell, the council's Environmental Action Team manager, said: "We have set ourselves a target of removing particularly offensive graffiti within 24 hours or one working day while everything else will be tackled as a matter of course."