A MAJOR drive to crack down on crime in Ipswich looks set to lose out to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds, The Evening Star can reveal today.

A MAJOR drive to crack down on crime in Ipswich looks set to lose out to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds, The Evening Star can reveal today.

Police and local authorities have worked together to draw up a crime and disorder reduction strategy for the town over the next three years.

It was originally hoped the project, due to start in April, would receive up to £400,000 in special grants from the Safer Communities Initiative, which is funded by the Home Office.

But no announcement has yet been made about the grant – which was expected to be part of a £10 million package for East Anglia – and organisers now fear it will be only tens rather than hundreds of thousands.

Conservative borough councillor, Gordon Terry said today: "It was very clear at the Ipswich by-election that crime and the fear of crime were at the top of people's agenda.

"Any sharp reduction in the money we were hoping to get for those purposes would be of the utmost concern."

Borough community safety officer, Jim Manning, said they had originally been hoping for between £300,000 and £400,000, but it looked as if the figure would now be in tens of thousands.

However, he said they would make the most of the funds available, whatever the final sum proved to be. "We are used

to working miracles with limited resources."

"We want to build on the Nightsafe project in the town centre which has worked to prevent club-type violence and expand on things like the late-night buses experiment."

The Ipswich Community Safety Partnership has drawn up a list of areas which need to be tackled:

n Violence and disorder.

n Anti-social behaviour, criminal damage and youth nuisance.

n Domestic violence

n Drug and alcohol-related crime

n Car crime

n Burglary in homes and other premises, including bogus callers.

n Making more people feel very safe in their home areas.

n Helping local communities to develop problem-solving skills and address problems of crime and disorder.

The borough and county councils and Suffolk Police all worked on the draft strategy and many other organisations are also being asked for their views.

Evening Star readers made an important contribution earlier in the consultation by sending in their comments.

A Home Office spokeswoman said today she was unable to give a date for the announcement of Safer Communities funding. But she added: "We aim to announce detailed arrangements soon."