AS a councillor for Central Ward I welcome the announcements by Lancashire Police to tackle kerb crawling and prostitution in Preston.

The councillors from Central, Deepdale and St Matthew's wards have met the police on several occasions in the last year urging them to carry out such an operation.

The girls have often been the only ones prosecuted in the past. The only way the girls have to pay their fines is to go back out on the streets, while the kerb crawlers get away scot-free.

The police have announced a two-track initiative -- one to deal with kerb crawling and one to do with rehabilitating the prostitutes.

The two things missing in this statement is the need to tackle the pimps and drug pushers who prey on vulnerable and often abused young women, forcing them on to the streets.

The priority should be to give the streets of Central, Deepdale and St Matthews back to the decent law abiding residents whose lives are made a misery by these activities.

I hope this initiative will be sustained by the police and not prove to be another short-lived headline grabbing action.

Councillor John Swindells