THE fight against drug-related crime in Redditch will get a cash boost of nearly £216,000 over the next three years, writes Julian Seva.

And more money could be in the pipeline after the Home Office this week announced a round of grants for community crime-fighting partnerships nationwide.

The Redditch Community Safety Partnership, formed in 1998, will oversee spending.

The money, given to Redditch because of its burglary, robbery and car crime rates, could be spent on a host of recommended measures.

These include:

1 More visible police presence in 'drug hotspots'.

2 Supporting neighbourhood wardens.

3 Recruiting housing managers.

4 Support for community and parents' groups.

5 Dealing with drug-related anti-social behaviour.

6 Better lighting and security.

The Government also highlighted CCTV as a way of reducing drug-related crime.

Redditch Community Safety Partnership recently lost out on a bid to extend CCTV coverage across the town after a first bid to install town centre cameras won support.

Redditch Council community safety officer Tariq Khan said some of the money could be used for extra CCTV.

Mr Khan said: "We are delighted to be allocated this money and will be using it to tackle the concerns highlighted.

"It's early days so we will have to sit down and look at our priority areas and how to spend the money to the benefit of the community."

Chief Insp Dave Willetts, of Redditch police, said: "I am pleased to see funding has been offered to combat drug misuse in this area.

"We are working with our partners to tackle problems connected with drug misuse and the availability of this money will greatly enhance our ability to tackle the issues."