A star of BBC's The Apprentice is set to help tackle anti-social in his hometown of Westhoughton.

Aaron Willis has teamed up with councillors which could see a new scheme being piloted which would help young people make the right choices through 'empowerment and mentoring'.

Westhoughton Town Council is set to consider a proposal from the Greater Manchester based charity Stride at its next meeting.

Stride is focussed on empowering, developing, and mentoring the youth in Greater Manchester.

Cllr David Wilkinson said: “There have been issues in the area of anti-social behaviour so when this came up with Aaron and the charity, he works for which has done outreach work in other areas, we thought we would look into it and see if it is feasible to put something in place in Westhoughton.

“We wanted to do this to help the youths of Westhoughton. We are looking forward to getting this project up and running and one of the things we want to do is divert people away from anti-social behaviour and potentially criminal activity.

“There is a tendency with some people in Westhoughton to say it is a lovely place and it is but under the surface there is some criminality.

“If we can get this project up and running in Westhoughton and it can get kids who may be on the fringe of anti-social behaviour away from it, that is good, if we can divert anyone going down more of the criminality route, that’s good.

“It is good for the town, it is good for everybody, and it is good for the kids as well because going down that route, your life choices can become slightly limited to say the least.

“If we can prevent that it is a win win situation.

“We were very impressed by the information supplied to us by Stride about the work they do in other parts of Greater Manchester, particularly in Tameside where they had worked with young people who were struggling and had ended up being involved in anti-social behaviour.

“The town council is committed to providing more support for young people. We know that anti-social behaviour has become a problem in Westhoughton, so we’re hoping this new initiative will help to give young people more purpose and focus.”

Aaron is the CEO of Stride and grew up in Westhoughton.

He featured on The Apprentice in 2022, said: “Many of the children we work with are living in deprived areas or are involved in anti-social behaviour.

“Over the past year we have been working closely with Greater Manchester Police in Manchester and our We Move programme has seen us mentor youths in Moss Side and Tameside and have been an amazing intervention for these children to look at other alternatives to crime and general anti-social behaviour.

“Due to the huge success of this programme, Greater Manchester Police has requested Stride to work in Rochdale, Bury, and Bolton.

“As an ex-resident of Westhoughton I have seen first hand the increase in anti-social behaviour and the rise in vandalism and drug use in the town and I would love the opportunity to explore the option of Stride becoming a major intervention for the youths in Westhoughton.

“Our mentors are extremely passionate and highly trained in the most extreme safeguarding cases.

“Also, our mentors have also come from deprived areas, this is a huge benefit simply because they remain in touch with the community.”

The charity’s mentoring system gives one to one interaction with young people and gives them alternatives to crime.

They also help to assist with any mental health issues or family issues these individuals may be going through.

If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at chloe.wilson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on Twitter @chloewjourno.