POLICE today praised a community youth group for helping cut street crime in the face of an expected annual summer increase.

Youth nuisance reports in Darwen have fallen by 3.4 per cent since last year and police are hoping for further improvements this summer.

Youth Works, on Anyon Street has been allocated a portion of £12million lottery cash nationwide to keep nine to 17-year-olds off the streets.

And today Darwen police backed the schemes and said the work was "invaluable".

Tracey Scott, Youth Works senior project officer, said the money, which will be used to fund resources and support volunteers, was paramount to the scheme's survival.

She said: "It's good to be able to go out with the young people and for them to try new things. We build relationships with them. This approach has been proven to reduce crime in the Sudellside area."

The young people taking part in Youth Works will have the chance to try climbing, quad-biking and caving. One 15-year-old taking part in the activities, Joanne Bellusci, said: "It's a good chance for us to try scuba diving and visit theme parks. If Youth Works wasn't here we'd be sitting around doing nothing."

An independent evaluation found that juvenile nuisance fell by a fifth and drug offences by a quarter in the areas where schemes were run.

Sergeant Alice Knowles, of Darwen said: "We think any idea that keeps the kids out of mischief is a good one. And it's safer for them if they are taking part in supervised activities."

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell launched the nationwide scheme and said: "These schemes stop crime. We know that's true from the success of last year's schemes where crime fell where they were set up.

"This is not rocket science. If you give young people something to do, somewhere to go, something to aspire to, they will spend less time on the street or on the sofa."

Youth Works is part of the Groundwork Trust project.