A SCHEME to clamp down on crime in places of worship is set to be introduced in Accrington later this year.

Churchwatch is a national scheme which aims to help churches and other places of worship keep their doors open for people to pray without worry of burglary or criminal damage at the buildings.

There are currently around 200 areas, including Burnley, where the scheme is already in place, and a meeting in December has been organised to discuss its implementation in the Accrington area.

Churches in the area have been increasingly hit by burglary, vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

Nick Tolson, national Churchwatch co-ordinator, said: "This is about coming and talking to the community and giving them examples of good practices from around the country.

"Every single church should be open. There is no excuse to close - if they do then the criminals have won."

Mr Tolson, who previously worked as a police officer and also as a church verger, says the scheme operates on different scales in different areas ranging from twice yearly meetings for talks about crime prevention to having pager links to police stations.

He said: "We will explain the variations of the scheme to representatives from the churches and take it from there.

"If there is an interest we will do simple training with them and if the will is there we will come back and help them with it."

Somerset-based Churchwatch has been running officially since April 2000 but unofficial schemes have been in place for around 10 years.

Training and help for individual churches is free as it is sponsored by insurance companies.

Mr Tolson said: "It's simple stuff, it's not brain surgery. People have this great fear that the church will be stripped if the doors are left open.

"But there is preparation that needs to be done such as putting wooden candlesticks instead of brass ones into churches. People also need to take care with money collection boxes and be aware of personal safety.

"They need to know who will deal with particular situations such as telephoning the police and where the nearest telephone is."

Sergeant Claire Holbrook, co-ordinator for Accrington police, said: "Analysis has shown that certain churches in Accrington have been subjected to burglaries and that residents have reported anti-social behaviour in church yards.

"This scheme encourages churches to remain open for people to worship in during the day but it recognises that this leaves them open to attack from burglars and vandals so it introduces methods of curtailing that."