TACKLING petty crime, cracking down on litter louts and forming a neighbourhood watch scheme were some of the issues highlighted at a community meeting in Worcester.

Residents, police, youth workers and council members joined forces at Ronkswood Community Centre to air their views about the estate.

Stolen and dumped cars, vandalism, walls being kicked down and windows being broken proved the main areas of concern.

The consultation group, led by a team including Councillor Mike Layland and PC Liz Northcott, will be instrumental in a bid to stamp out problems.

"By communicating with each other we have a real chance of facing up to and solving any difficulties," said Coun Layland.

"This meeting was designed to not just be another talking shop. The panel want to make positive progress."

Rubbish in alleyways was one nuisance identified and the team aims to ask schools in the area to accommodate talks to pupils from environmental services.

The installation of 24-hour CCTV cameras at the community centre and Lichfield Avenue was hailed a success with a recent spate of offences captured on film.

"We can't be everywhere around the clock we need people to co-operate with us to solve problems," said PC Northcott.

"Hopefully, with meetings such as this and the measures we are introducing, we can have a multi-agency approach to tackling these problems together."

Residents are also setting up a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme at Chelmsford Drive. People suffering any form of anti-social behaviour were also urged to report incidents to police and to record the incident in a diary.

"Our next step is to set up a newsletter with a column from the police to highlight progress made in the area. This meeting is a positive step in everyone working together towards a better community," said Coun Layland.