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 | | Monday, 10 September, 2001, 12:03 GMT 13:03 UK Inner city crime cut  Crime has been cut on the estate and jobs created A �50 million scheme to improve Bristol's deprived Barton Hill area has cut crime by a fifth. Community campaigners are praised for their success in a report published this week. Barton Hill was one of 19 districts around England to benefit from the first round of the government's New Deal for Communities initiative (NCD). Terry Harris, chair of the Commmunity at Heart Board in Barton Hill, said: "Significant progress has been made. "Crime is down by 20%, the streets of the New Deal area are now the cleanest in Bristol, more than 40 local people have got jobs with help from the programme." Volunteer effort He said a community resource centre called the New Deal Shop was developing an important role. The scheme - costing �2 billion nationally - involves local people identifying problems and tackling them. Mr Harris said volunteers turned out "time and time again" to work on various projects.
The neighbourhood renewal minister, Lord Falconer, published the first annual review of the initiative on Monday. He said: "The achievements after just one year are immensely encouraging. "Decades of neglect meant for all NCD neighbourhoods that there is a long way to go, but we will ensure that they continue to receive the support they need to deliver long-lasting change." 'Gimmick' claim When the scheme was first announced it was attacked by the Conservative environment spokesman Archie Norman as nothing more than a "re-heated pre-election gimmick". The prime minister, Tony Blair, said at the time: "We have still not succeeded in giving everyone a share in Britain's economic success. "There are still whole areas, not just individual people, excluded from society's prosperity." | | See also:  Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top UK stories now:  Links to more UK stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||
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