A LEADING councillor has pledged that the town will make new attempts to gain Government cash to help tackle prostitution in Bolton.

Frank White revealed that new efforts to secure extra money will be made to fund projects aimed at finding ways of dealing with the problem.

The Labour councillor also wants to see around 35 homes in The Haulgh area of the town placed under the local authority's Landlord Regeneration Scheme.

The plan aims to renovate properties by providing modernisation grants. The homes would then be let to carefully vetted tenants.

Cllr White said: "This scheme will enable us to upgrade properties in the area and make them attractive to families. Some of the properties at the moment can only be described as squalid."

He said he believed some landlord-controlled homes had become run-down and were attracting drug dealers, prostitutes and pimps.

The move follows the murder of prostitute Carly Bateman whose naked body was found in an alley at the back of Crawford Avenue.

The 17-year-old had been addicted to drugs and police are still hunting for her killer.

It has led to fresh calls to tackle prostitution in Bolton and Cllr White said Bolton Council had been speaking with prostitutes in The Haulgh, offering them support and medical advice.

A health van patrols the area at night and attempts have been made to improve street lighting.

Cllr White said: "We will never rid Bolton of prostitutes and with that in mind, we have set up initiatives to protect their safety.

"The working girls who live in Bolton are sympathetic to the views of residents in the Haulgh and they know they are less likely to be harassed and end up in court if they do not operate there."

He believed operating in the business district of Shiffnall Street would be better both for the prostitutes, residents and the local authority.

Cllr White was speaking just over a year after the town tried to secure £95,000 of Government cash to tackle the problem of prostitution.

That bid was rejected by the Home Office, angering Cllr White, cabinet member for community safety and social inclusion.

The cash would have been used to fund detailed research into the most effective ways of cutting prostitution in Bolton's red light district.

Regular complaints about prostitution in residential streets on the Haulgh prompted the council to take action.

Cllr White said steps were being taken to educate prostitutes. He said: "We are trying to show them that there are other more desirable paths in life.."

Last time, the Home Office said the Bolton bid had not shown enough detail of how the effectiveness of the project would be measured with data analysis.

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