RESIDENTS in the Milnshaw area of Accrington are being urged to attend a meeting about plans to launch a new "no cold calling" scheme.

Residents in the proposed zone, which is bounded by Queen's Road West, Pansy Street, Lancaster Avenue and Gloucester Avenue, and includes around 340 homes, have been invited to find out more about how it will work.

Milnshaw was chosen as the first zone because of the high proportion of housing for older people.

Also, according to crime statistics for 2005, more than 80per cent of burglaries in this area were committed against older people, and half of these involved some form of bogus calling or distraction.

The initiative, which is being led by Lancashire County Council's Trading Standards office and supported by the police and other agencies, would be run like a neighbourhood watch with a co-ordinator being the main point of contact.

Milnshaw Residents' Association is getting behind the scheme.

Once the community is involved street signs go up around the "no cold calling" zone and information packs will be sent out to residents.

Any trader calling unannounced once the zone has been launched should be reported to the police, trading standards or local co-ordinator.

The meeting is being held at the Banbury Close Community Centre, in Lancaster Avenue on Thursday, February 23, at 7pm.