STREET crime in Lancashire has fallen by 11 per cent, according to figures released by the Home Office this week.

The news comes six months after Lancashire Constabulary was controversially put on a list of ten forces across the country to suffer from a street crime problem.

The figures have been hailed as good news by Home Secretary David Blunkett.

Lancashire Constabulary was set the target of having zero growth in street crime levels by the Government.

Chief Constable Paul Stephenson said: "Since April we've seen a steady fall in robberies and all indications are that this is continuing.

"We decided to concentrate on targeting drug dealing, which we consider to be the root cause of most robberies in the county.