PRIME MINISTER Tony Blair has hailed anti-social behaviour orders as successful tools in the nationwide fight against yobs.

Antisocial behaviour costs the UK £3.4 million a year and Asbos are used by police officers and councils as a means of banning people from trouble spots.

Now Mr Blair and Home Secretary David Blunkett have announced plans for 50 Together action areas across the country which will see a renewed effort in tackling antisocial behaviour.

Bournemouth has been chosen as one of the Together areas and a hotline will be set up by the council where victims can report incidents.

The Together scheme is aimed not just at intimidation and yobbery but also nuisance neighbours, vandalism, graffiti and rubbish dumping.

But as the government declared Asbos a success in breaking up unruly groups and shutting down crack houses, one Home Office minister admitted that a third of Asbos have been breached.

In Bournemouth half of the Asbos put in place in the last year have been breached - in Poole all have been breached.

Minister Hazel Blears said although there have been breaches it did not mean Asbos were failing to protect people.

"We all have a right to live in safe, secure communities, but we also have responsibility to help create those communities," she said. "The active engagement of local people is vital to stopping yobbish behaviour and creating strong communities. We need a partnership approach, with local authorities and police, supported by the government, working with the local community to tackle their problems. We have seen over the past year what can be achieved, and I am glad that Bournemouth is joining with us to do more."

Jayne Robertson, antisocial behaviour co-ordinator for Bournemouth Borough Council, said of yesterday's announcement: "I am really pleased about this. I think the reason why we were chosen by the government was because we have created innovative ways of tackling antisocial behaviour in the borough."

On the Townsend Estate officers have used diversion, education and preventative measures. During August antisocial behaviour dropped by 30 per cent from the previous year and general crime by 20 per cent.

She added that efforts are being made to ensure those who are made a subject of an Asbo are fully informed of the prohibitions in an interview.

Bournemouth was the first council in Dorset to attach an independent support order (ISO) to an Asbo so the subject receives help for anger management, alcohol or drug treatment.

In Poole all 10 Asbos have been breached.

Meanwhile, the number of young people locked up from Bournemouth and Poole has almost doubled as magistrates are sending them to custody for the breaches.

Ian Cooke, Poole's antisocial behaviour co-ordinator said: "Looking at when Asbos came in during the late 90s and early part of 2001 the orders were not clearly written. The prohibitions were really hard for youngsters to get to grips with and so they were breached.

"We recognise this in Poole and we are going to be working hard to make sure future Asbos are not breached as quickly or frequently as current ones."

Nationally the courts handed out 2,600 Asbos in the last year.

The antisocial action plan has been running in 10 areas in a three-year plan to wipe out nuisance behaviour.

First published: October 29

For an open letter from the Home Secretary, David Blunkett MP, see today's Daily Echo