Town is flying into cyber space

A cyber centre is being set up in Bacup town centre to provide a computer and Internet facility for the community as a whole and also to give youngsters a place to go for work or play.

Bacup has been subject to a number of juvenile nuisance incidents in the town centre and on the estates and recently a number of buses belonging to Rossendale Transport had windows smashed and schools and homes on the Pennine Road estate have been targeted by vandals.

Local police, in partnership with Crimestoppers and Lancashire County Council's Youth and Community Services have joined forces to set up the scheme which has cost £3,500.

Sgt Graeme Fearn said: "We have been working in partnership with staff involved in youth work for some time now in an attempt to find suitable diversions for young people.

"Us simply moving them on all the time doesn't actually solve the problem of youth nuisance, it simply displaces it to somewhere else.

"After discussion with youth workers and the young people themselves, we decided that a cyber cafe would be a great idea.

"It will not only give youngsters somewhere to go, but provide a safe, supervised environment in which they will have the opportunity to learn new skills and meet new people."

The centre will initially have three immovable, purposely adapted computers with voice activated facilities to assist people with learning difficulties.

People using the centre will be supervised at all times and access to the Internet will be limited to ensure no unsuitable material can be viewed.

Sgt Fearn said: "This will be a superb new facility not just for youngsters but for the whole community in Bacup.

"For some, it may open up a whole new world of technology and for others it will provide somewhere to go where they can e-mail friends or get on with homework.

"We just home that the centre will go some way to reducing incidents of youth nuisance and improve the quality of life for everyone living in Bacup."