THE first of the area forums held throughout Craven was so poorly attended at Cross Hills that business was finished within the hour.

Despite complaints about poor policing and the huge rise in council tax bills, there were very few people there to hold those responsible to account.

In fact the majority of those members of the public who had turned out for their twice-yearly chance to ask direct questions to the police and the district council were holding out begging bowls for grants and did not raise any issues.

A new system started this year allows each area forum committee to allocate £5,000 worth of grants in its district. The meeting at South Craven School saw 14 of the groups' representatives put their case for grants.

While most of the ordinary members of the public were looking for funds, a handful did question the panel.

One such question came from Coun John Anderson, who asked what powers the police had towards anti-social behaviour by young people? He said people in Cowling did not know how to go about dealing with unacceptable behaviour from some of the youths.

"If you say anything to these youngsters or suggest calling the police, all they say to you is 'call them because they can't touch us'," he said. "The residents want to know what can be done to deal with them."

Sgt Kevin Franks said there were moves in place to address the situation with placing Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) on offenders, but needed help from the public to tackle the offenders.

"If we get incidents of damage or abuse we will deal with them as long as they are reported. The problem with some youths is that they are quite cute and see how far they can go before stepping over the line," he said.

Sgt Franks said the mechanism to issue ASBOSs and tackle anti-social behaviour in courts was finally in place. He said the method was not cheap, but could curtail abuse or noise through orders to change behaviour and perhaps ban them from entering a particular street, shop, or area.

"We do need the public's help on this though," said Sgt Franks. "We need people to continue reporting these incidents so information can be collated and steps taken to address it."

One member of the public inquired what measures the police were taking to stamp out nuisance fireworks leading up to bonfire night.

His answer from the police was that staffing numbers were being doubled on shifts between 6pm and 10pm. The operation was running from Oct 30 to possibly November 7.

It was also noted that new regulations surrounding the supply of fireworks seemed to be having some effect as very few fireworks had been heard. This time last year fireworks and bangers were being let off almost every night.