COMMUNITY leaders showed the High Sheriff of Lancashire some of their successful projects to tackle crime at a Blackburn estate.

Lady Shuttleworth visited the tenants' base, Hereford Road, Whitebirk, to meet members of the Blackburn with Darwen Crime and Disorder partnership.

Lady Shuttleworth said she was visiting all the local authority areas in Lancashire to get an insight into crime-fighting initiatives at grass roots level and promote successful schemes. She will finish her tenure as High Sheriff in April, but she said she planned to share the information with her successor. Geoff Whitehead, the council's community safety co-ordinator, said it was a chance for local people to show the positive impact of their work to fight crime.

He said: "It's good to get recognition of what we are doing here."

The estate was one of the hotspot areas highlighted in a crime and disorder survey in March. It has since been targeted by crime prevention groups and crime has fallen by 27 per cent and disorder by 12 per cent.

Lady Shuttleworth also attended a lunch at Audley Women's Community Enterprise Centre.

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