HOME Office chiefs have praised a Preston scheme aimed at cutting the number of burglaries in the area.

Home office minister Mike O'Brien said targets for the Reducing Burglary Initiative (RBI) had been met and exceeded, with nearly 4,000 homes protected by the police using a Government grant.

Preston's St Matthew's in Ribbleton received a Home Office cash boost of £69,990 under the multi-million pound RBI scheme -- cash that has been used to tackle domestic burglary.

The Ribbleton scheme has seen the introduction of two strategy's including 'Target Hardening' which involves extra locks on doors and windows, security marking property and the introduction of CCTV.

The second strategy involves a social scheme intended to divert potential offenders.

Mr O'Brien said: "In the long term the RBI aims to prevent many thousands of burglaries a year, but just as importantly it will provide valuable lessons about what works best in which circumstances."

The introduction of the scheme in the North West has seen £2.6m granted to 33 projects in areas containing 137,089 homes.

As a result, burglaries in Lancashire have fallen by 17 per cent in the 18 months prior to September last year, from more than 12,000 to 10,000.

Detective inspector Joe Kellett of Preston CID said: "Over the last few years we have made a concerted effort to target burglaries and in particular dwelling house burglaries because we realise the effect on victims."