A SCHEME to protect traders from criminal activities is set to be relaunched to coincide with major developments in a town centre.

The HART Scheme, Hyndburn Association for Retail Traders, will be relaunched alongside an increase in policing in Accrington town centre called Operation Excavate while the market development is under way.

The Hart scheme was first established around five years ago in conjunction with town centre traders and the police in a bid to identify problems affecting traders and ways to solve them.

One way that this worked was to serve a notice banning a shoplifter arrested in any shop in the scheme from entering any of the others.

Traders were shown photographs of offenders to assist this process.

In addition information gathered from the scheme was accumulated by police to use in applications for anti-social behaviour orders on persistent offenders.

More than 100 shops and licensed outlets are now involved in the scheme and are in the process of being fully educated on the scheme and other police projects in the town such as the CCTV system and pub watch scheme.

It is hoped this, in addition to high visibility policing, will make criminals who might take advantage of the upheaval in the town think twice.

Sergeant Mark Porter, the town centre police sergeant for Accrington, said: "Operation Excavate will be running for the duration of the regeneration works on the market in order to reassure people who use the town centre during the day and night.

"There have been a number of concerns about what effect it will have on the town centre.

"Access to the shops is one of the main concerns and whether or not it will put people off coming to spend their money in the town.

"But there is also the worry that there will be opportunities for crime increases so we will be making sure officers go into the shops and help to ease any concerns as the work goes on.

"There will also be an increased visibility of officers and we will keep a high profile during the weekends and evenings too.

"We want to reassure traders and send out a message to anyone who might take advantage of the building works that it will not be tolerated."