It is not all handed to them on a plate, they have to work for the chance to be here

Les Webber

It is based on the Wraysbury Angling Project, which has run an anti-crime fishing scheme for 25 years.

Founder and angling co-ordinator Les Webber acknowledged that critics may see it as a way of unjustly rewarding anti-social behaviour.

He said: "I can see why people would think that, but all I can say is that our scheme seems to work with kids.

"It's not about just fishing. Youngsters who come to us learn about domestic skills, gelling with teams and the experience gives them social responsibility.

'Sense of achievement'

"It is not all handed to them on a plate, they have to work for the chance to be here."

He said the project took up to 3,000 children a year.

"This is the only centre of its kind in the country at the moment and the children who come have to prove they deserve it, by not playing truant and not disrupting school, for several months, before they come."

If it is done using proper facilities and coaching, it can be of real benefit to them in the future

National Federation of Anglers

The money, which has come from the Environment Agency, Sport England and the National Lottery, will be ploughed into angling centres and schemes set up by youth agencies and the police.

A spokesman for the National Federation of Anglers said it was hoped the scheme would provide youngsters with life-long skills.

"If you can focus the youngsters on something like this, it will give them a real sense of achievement.

"And if it is done using proper facilities and coaching, it can be of real benefit to them in the future."