COMMUNITY representatives from Burnley and Pendle met with the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman Simon Hughes yesterday as part of a fact-finding tour of the North following the recent disturbances in towns across the region.

Mr Hughes MP said the aim of his visit, which also included stop-offs at Oldham and Manchester, was to listen to what local people had to say.

The MP said: "I am finding out about policing in the area and looking at what we need to do to improve it. I am also looking at activities for young people and what is needed to give them more opportunities to be constructive citizens and anything else which is needed to bring communities together rather than allowing them to grow apart.

"I am very happy to talk to people on the council but I am equally happy to talk to the young people on the street."

Pendle Council recently lost out on a bid for £150,000 for funding for summer activities for young people and Coun David Whipp, who led the discussion at Nelson Town Hall yesterday, told the MP that the community felt they had been short changed.

Mr Hughes agreed that the only way to keep youngsters off the streets is to provide them with activities.

He said: "I want to make sure that if towns or districts which could do with the additional financial help don't get the response they want, people like me can ask questions why and turn things around.

"I want to make sure we start to deal with problems through education. Lots of children do not mix with children from other schools in the area, I want to bring them together in sharing after-school activities. On my next visit I could possibly pick up some of their ideas through broader community meetings with the young people about crime and jobs and we could hear each others opinions so that there is no ducking the difficult issues. "It's maybe one of the things needed in Lancashire is more funding for the youth services."

The MP, who used to be a youth leader, said young people needed to feel valuable within the community and he supported a recent idea by the police to have face-to-face meetings with the youngsters.

He said: "Fit young men need to have their energy used up in some way. If you have young people with lots of energy and not a lot to do with it then you are asking for trouble.

"We also need to make sure the police are doing their job properly. If people contact the police and do not get the response they are looking for they will give up phoning them to report things."

One idea he will be pushing for next summer will be funding to enable young people to enjoy the hype surrounding the Commonwealth Games being hosted in Manchester.

Mr Hughes said: "It is an opportunity to promote community sporting events in the build up to the Commonwealth Games with inter-school swimming and other activities so that every community in the North West feels part of it. We could even arrange for groups of young people to go to a day's worth of the Games."

The MP also met with people from organisations working to tackle the underlying causes of disaffection of young people.