CUMBRIA'S Police and Crime Commissioner Richard Rhodes is asking district councils to work with him to target anti-social behaviour.

Mr Rhodes has written to the county's six district council leaders to offer a one-off sum of £100,000 to be matched funded by the district council for use in tackling anti-social behaviour.

In addition, Mr Rhodes is proposing to provide sufficient funding to the Community Safety Partnerships to allow them to continue to operate for the next 12 months alongside existing funding.

Mr Rhodes said: “Anti-social behaviour makes people’s lives a misery. Whilst out with operational policing officers I have witnessed first-hand the impact of anti-social behaviour and how often the solutions need to be provided consistently at a local level together with partners.

“The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner is pleased to be able to offer the district councils a one-off sum of £100,000 which they need to match fund to tackle anti-social behaviour.

“I have asked the leaders of the district councils to consider their CCTV provision alongside other tools to tackle anti-social behaviour.

“The district councils will need to submit a business case outlining how the money could be used to the benefit of local communities by Monday, March 11.

“The four Community Safety Partnerships do excellent work at a local level and I propose to provide sufficient funding for the next 12 months alongside a continuation of their existing funding.

“There is already lots of good work going on to tackle anti-social behaviour and I hope that this one-off funding will reduce the impact of anti-social behaviour.”