JOBLESS people are to be given work helping to make Bolton town centre a cleaner and friendlier place.

From next week, four town centre wardens, drawn from the unemployed and trained by Bolton Wise, will begin patrolling the shopping streets assisting the existing town centre ambassadors.

Their role will be to meet and greet visitors to the town, liaise with businesses, hand out leaflets and act as security at events in the town.

Each warden will have been referred to Bolton Wise, a company set up to help the long-term unemployed get back into work, by a local JobCentre.

They will undergo 13 weeks of training before hitting the streets as wardens for up to 26 weeks.

Like the ambassadors, who are employed by Bolton Town Centre Company and have become a familiar sight in the centre, the wardens will wear a distinctive uniform. But theirs will be green and not the blue of the ambassadors.

Steve Bottrill, general manager of Bolton Wise, believes the new scheme, funded in part with European money, will give people who have been unemployed for at least six months and are struggling to find work, the necessary skills and experience to gain a job.

"They will be able to see the value of what they are doing," he said.

"If the work you are doing is valued, it gives you greater self esteem and hope for the future."

A similar scheme, organised by Bolton Wise, has been operating successfully in Farnworth for the past six years.

From next month, Bolton Wise is also setting up a hit squad of four to work with Bolton Council's environmental cleansing department.

The team will act as grot spot busters in Bolton town centre, rapidly responding to incidents of graffiti, vandalism, litter problems and fly posting to make the town centre more appealing to visit.