A HOUSING association is claiming new strategies are helping to improve conditions on a crime-hit estate.

Northern British Housing Association has been involved in a programme of work aimed at improving Roman Road estate.

Blackburn Council launched a major publicity drive to attract residents back to the area, after it was revealed hundreds of homes on the estate are standing empty.

Drug abuse, unemployment, rising crime levels and vandalism have all helped to drive residents out of the estate.

The association, one of the biggest of its kind in the country, owns 257 houses on the Blackburn estate.

NBHA recently introduced a package of measures designed to improve community spirit on the troubled estate.

And the association claims the pioneering work is already starting to pay dividends and point to falling juvenile crime rates and an increase in demand for houses in the areas. The findings are revealed in NBHA's annual report and are the first positive news about Roman Road for several years.

The annual report reads: "The estate as a whole had deteriorated and a rapid turnover of tenants meant we had a problem of voids and vandalism.

"A £4 million programme of work was drawn up to renovate and upgrade the homes and redesign the layout.

"The youth works initiative has already proved its effectiveness by dramatically reducing juvenile offending statistics and the cost of theft and vandalism.

"It has helped to to counter the previous stigmatised image of the estate."

Other projects aimed at improving conditions on the estate include work with the community, local churches and schools, anti-bullying workshops and outward bound courses for local youths.

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