ANTI-SOCIAL behaviour "hotspots" are being targeted in a County Durham town.

Police, council officials and other agencies in Shildon are joining forces to make a stand against nuisance behaviour in the town.

The initiative, which is being led by Shildon Police and Sedgefield Community Safety Partnership, follows the success of two operations since July 2004.

Operation Axenic targeted streets near Locomotion: The National Railway Museum and Operation Enominate focused on the town's Jubilee Estate.

Acting Inspector Steve Ball said: "Both operations went really well and made a big difference, but they were just short operations focusing on specific areas.

"What we are looking at now is more of a long-term solution where all of the agencies are working together to look at wider areas in the town.''

Work has already started with the borough's mobile closed-circuit television van travelling around some of the troubled areas over the bank holiday weekend.

A report has also been compiled identifying hotspots where anti-social behaviour is a problem. Some of the areas identified include Sunnydale, Albert Street, the Thickley ward area, Church Street, Cheapside, Central Parade, Ruby Street, Byerley Road and Drybourne Avenue.

Acting Insp Ball said progress was already being made with a new police community safety officer being recently introduced to the Eldon and Sunnydale area.

He said: "Yes, Shildon does have its share of nuisance behaviour and we are reacting to that. The Eldon and Sunnydale ward has not had a designated officer for some time, so it is good to have someone else on board.

"We are looking at all sorts of ways and ideas of tackling issues by having regular meetings with the partnership and the community wardens to try to identify where the problems are and what the solution is.''

A lot of the information will be compiled from people calling in with incidents of anti-social behaviour. Teams from both the partnership and the police will use the information to see if some of the problems are being caused by the same individuals.

Some of the solutions will include outreach work, police intervention and, in extreme cases, anti-social behaviour orders.