NEIGHBOURHOOD wardens could soon be hitting the streets of Radcliffe's residential areas.

Community safety wardens are already a familiar sight in the town centre, but following talks and meetings with tenants and residents, anti-crime patrols look set to be deployed on the streets in and around the Top o'th Cross area.

Last week town hall bosses submitted a bid for a slice of the £13.5 million the Government has earmarked to improve the quality of life in residential areas.

They want £250,000 over three years to help set up teams of neighbourhood wardens on four estates in the borough. They would work with the police and the council's own security service to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, as well as fulfilling a range of community duties. But Bury's housing chairman, Councillor Kevin Scarlett, promised that the pilot scheme would go ahead in Radcliffe even if the council did not get the cash to run it elsewhere. The money would come from council house rents and the authority's general pot. He added: "It is important that we get wardens in Radcliffe as it is an area where there are some concerns about community safety. The scheme would also be a good way of improving communication between the council and the community and allaying any fears or misunderstandings."

The wardens would patrol during office hours, giving advice, reporting environmental problems, visiting crime victims and responding to minor disputes.

The skills and experience required would mean that, unlike the community safety wardens, they would not be recruited from the long term unemployed.

Coun Scarlett said: "It is important to make a difference between the Community Safety wardens in the town centre and the neighbourhood wardens.

"There is a link between the two but in the town centre it is more of a police approach while the neighbourhood wardens are "super caretakers". They will be in uniform but it is about creating a link between residents and people who provide services such as the police, housing department, social services and people who cut the grass."

Top o'th' Cross has been selected as the pilot area purely for geographical reasons.

"It's not because it is a particularly bad area, it's just that it links up nicely with the town centre renewal scheme," explained Coun Scarlett, who said the patrols would also take in part of the St Thomas's estate.

"The wardens would report pavements which need repaired, faulty street lights, and kids hanging around when they should be at school," he said.

"Depending on the finance, we could hopefully extend patrols to the evenings and weekends."