ATTEMPTS to tackle street prostitution and the issues connected with it are making good progress, county chiefs will be told next month.An update on Ipswich's five-year prostitution strategy, which is part-funded by Suffolk County Council, reveals there is now a clearer understanding of the impact of the sex trade on local residents.

ATTEMPTS to tackle street prostitution and the issues connected with it are making good progress, county chiefs will be told next month.

An update on Ipswich's five-year prostitution strategy, which is part-funded by Suffolk County Council, reveals there is now a clearer understanding of the impact of the sex trade on local residents.

Police activity in arresting kerb crawlers has also been hailed a success.

The report, which will go before the county council's cabinet at a meeting on October 9, reveals that a team aiming to deter identified kerb crawlers and support young people involved in prostitution or who are at risk of exploitation will cost £276,000 a year.

Meanwhile costs associated with tackling the demand - a team of six police officers a sergeant, and automatic number plate recognition cameras - will cost £260,000 a year.

More than 100 men have already been arrested for kerb crawling, soliciting a prostitute or outraging public decency since the prostitution strategy was launched.

As well as targeting the men who create the demand for the street sex industry, a coalition of authorities is working to help sex workers beat their drug addictions and build lives away from prostitution.

The strategy was drawn up following the killings of Ipswich sex workers Tania Nicol, Paula Clennell, Anneli Alderton, Annette Nicholls and Gemma Adams last year.