Bradford Council was today launching its bid to take a lead role in tackling the scourge of anti-social behaviour.

The authority is among 40 that have been invited to pitch for selection as a priority Respect Action Area by the Government.

A culture of respect has been a personal crusade of Prime Minister Tony Blair in his last term of office with a series of initiatives being launched aimed at curbing anti-social behaviour.

A decision on Bradford's role in this will be made in the New Year, but in the meantime the Council has organised a conference to outline what is already being done in the district - and what action can be taken with other agencies.

Home Office chiefs are attending the event at City Hall as well as the police, leading charities, and agencies such as Education Bradford and Bradford Community Housing Trust.

Key areas already being targeted include: l promoting good and challenging bad behaviour among young people l improving behaviour and attendance in schools l supporting parents lintensive support for the most anti-social families as part of a Government pilot project targeting some of the most problematic families l promoting "respect" in local neighbourhoods.

Council leader Kris Hopkins (Cons, Worth Valley) said: "The Respect Agenda is about partners and communities working together to build a respectful society where anti-social behaviour is prevented or tackled effectively and where local communities can live in peace.

"We have already done a lot to improve anti-social behaviour but we want to go further by improving the services we deliver and showing we will not tolerate behaviour that ruins everyone else's quality of life.

"We want to push ahead on the identified priorities and I am pleased to say we are forging ahead on neighbourhood planning and this formed the basis of getting our beacon status for rural services."

Chief executive Tony Reeves was due to give the opening address, followed by a talk by Alex Rhind from the Home Office's Respect Task Force, and Mark Carriline, the Council's strategic director of services for children and young people.

A series of presentations will outline how the Council will seek to take action. The aims are to promote good behaviour and challenge bad behaviour in the community and in schools. After an open forum the event was due to be concluded by Coun Hopkins.

Chief Superintendent Sarah Brown from West Yorkshire Police, and Ian Simpson, executive director of Bradford Community Housing Trust were also due to attend the morning event.

e-mail: jo.winrow@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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