A project which has seen more than 1,000 homes made safer and the crime rate plummet has been hailed by the Deputy Prime Minister as an example to the rest of the region.

John Prescott highlighted Bradford Trident's "secure by design" project while unveiling a five-year vision for Yorkshire and the Humber which would see radical improvements to quality of life.

He set out his hopes at a major policy launch and said districts like Bradford should have more freedom to solve their own problems.

To demonstrate this he showed how security improvements to 1,000 homes in the West Bowling, Marshfield and Little Horton areas were so successful that Trident, which is funded by the Office of the Deputy PM, was able to pay for improvements to another 500 homes from its own budget.

Around 1,200 homes have now had burglar alarms, security lights and door and window locks fitted, with 300 awaiting the upgrade.

In a document setting out his five-year vision, Mr Prescott said: "Priority recipients of the service are repeat victims of burglary and those living in burglary hotspots. The success of the project and other crime reduction initiatives has halved burglaries since September 2001. House prices have risen by 36 per cent."

Steve Hartley, chief executive of Bradford Trident, said: "We are able to make decisions at a very local level and this is a good example of that freedom."

Mr Prescott's report, 'Sustainable Communities: People, Places and Prosperity', sets out the foundations for policies designed to encourage pride in communities.

The 21-page brochure aims to encourage local authorities and other organisations to focus on quality-of-life issues such as the environment, transport, local services, poverty and anti-social behaviour. The document said it was a "huge challenge" to deal with problems in Bradford caused by having "vibrant housing markets next door to unpopular, declining ones".

The report also said the region could learn from Bradford's Youth Parliament, which gave young people a "strong voice in the provision of their services".

It also revived proposals to create directly-elected mayors.

The People's Purse scheme, run by Kirklees' Community Support Service, was also cited as a good example of what Mr Prescott wants to achieve.

It gives small grants to local people and organisations and nearly £200,000 has been approved for projects.

Mr Prescott said: "We want to give people more of a say in the way places are run and tackling disadvantage, so people are not condemned to a life of poverty and poor services by accidents of birth and geography."