LAWS to crack down harder on anti-social behaviour will mean a quieter life for communities in Bolton, a councillor claims.

Cllr Frank White has welcomed Government moves to give extra powers to councils to hand out Anti Social Behaviour Orders to problem teens who terrorise estates.

The measures include giving out interim enforcement orders while the youth is waiting to be dealt with in court, and extending the geographical area an order can apply to.

The Government announced the new powers in the same week that Bolton Council successfully got its third ASBO -- against Lee McGreavy from Great Lever.

Cllr White said: "At the moment it can take a long time for a case to be finalised because solicitors can use legal arguments to make the process longer.

"From now on the court will be able to impose an interim ASBO until the decision is made in order to protect residents and witnesses.

"The second important change is that we could extend the conditions to a wider area, such as the whole of Bolton or up to the whole of the country to avoid the problem of people moving and continuing their anti-social behaviour there."

Cllr White revealed that although only three ASBOs have been enforced in Bolton, at least a dozen other families have been warned that action could soon be taken.

"In those cases the families have moved for different reasons or sorted out the problem themselves, which shows that even the threat of an ASBO is a valuable tool."

Under the new laws housing associations and British Transport Police can also apply directly for ASBOs as well as the council.

"We will not hand out orders freely, but we want people to know that we will not tolerate anti-social behaviour in our communities and will not hesitate to use them when appropriate," said Cllr White.