A JOINT project - costing £270,000 - between St Helens Council and the local police to reduce victimisation has cleared the first hurdle in a bid for Government funding.

A total of 474 projects were submitted nationally under the Invest to Save initiative and only 187 have been included in the short list for the final bidding stage.

The St Helens project - a pilot scheme to reduce the incidences of victimisation - is one of those to receive the preliminary approval.

A formal bid now has to be submitted before October 15. The local scheme is linked to the Crime and Disorder reduction strategy.

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