A MULTI-agency initiative to crack down on recent spates of anti-social behaviour has taken to the streets of Windermere.

The Streetsafe Operation saw police, fire officers, councillors and representatives of local organisations visit around 100 properties in the Broad Street, Ellerthwaite Square, Holly Road and Library Gardens areas of the town to gather information about the concerns of residents.

Groups of three individuals visited residents and asked them to complete a questionnaire, which covered a number of issues from anti-social behaviour to street lighting, and they were given a pack containing information about local services and organisations.

PC Chris Isherwood, of Kendal COPS (Community Oriented Problem Solving), said that the aim of the operation was to gather information about those who were responsible for the anti-social behaviour in the area and to establish what other problems the residents had.

"It was quite a successful operation and it did highlight that there were still anti-social behaviour problems around the Library Gardens area of the town," said PC Isherwood. "But on the back of that, there was also positive feedback. Quite a few residents said they were pleased with the increased police controls around the town, although there is still an underlying problem of anti-social behaviour."

A similar operation that concentrated on a different area of the town was held in November, which PC Isherwood said was successful in highlighting problems, and enabled them to be addressed.

"These operations do pinpoint problem areas and you always find that people are quite happy to sit down and tell us about the problems when we visit them. All the information we collect is evaluated and sent to the agency that can deal with it, whether it is a concern about street lighting, fire alarms or the Neighbourhood Watch."

As part of the on-going operation, the teams will re-visit the residents in six weeks to assess what improvements have been made and see if their problems have been addressed.

"It is a good way to see how things are going and it is being pro-active in finding out how people feel and how the operation has gone for them," said PC Isherwood.