ACTION IS being taken to crack down on young louts who cause misery to communities in the Eastleigh area.

Eastleigh and Test Valley Community Safety Partnerships plan to get tough on youth nuisance and anti-social behaviour by tackling it head on.

Two anti-social behaviour co-ordinators have been appointed - one for Eastleigh and the other for Test Valley which covers parts of the Chandler's Ford area.

Working at "street level" in the heart of the community the two troubleshooters will be able to pinpoint the hot spots and deal with the culprits.

Their brief will be to target young people at the forefront of causing misery to neighbourhoods.

They will take whatever steps are necessary to prevent them from re-offending in the future.

It is part of an overall strategy to rid neighbourhoods of anti-social behaviour.

Working with other agencies the co-ordinators will gather information and deal with each incident or individual on a case by case basis.

They will identify suitable solutions for each pinpointed problem.

Where difficulties prevail or problems persist the more unmanageable or repeat offenders will be issued with Acceptable Behaviour Contracts or the more serious Anti-Social Behav-iour Contracts.

The police will continue to deal with criminal acts in the normal way.

Eastleigh Council's community safety manager Russell Tribe says: "We recognise that Eastleigh is a low level crime area and people have more

concerns about anti-social behaviour.

"We have responded to these concerns by funding a post holder who will work very closely with the youth offending team.

"They are well resourced to provide solutions to problems through diversionary activities and improving parenting skills through training."