KERB crawlers in Bolton could be named, shamed and lose their driving licences as part of Government proposals to crack down on prostitution.

The shake-up, announced by the Home Office yesterday, saw earlier plans to create tolerance zones ditched.

But proposals were announced to provide women with help to escape the sex trade.

Brothels employing two prostitutes could also be made legal.

Charities and campaigners in Bolton say parts of the plan will make it more difficult for them to work with prostitutes in the area.

They fear targeting men who pay for sex could push the trade to residential areas where prostitutes would blight the lives of communities and put themselves in danger of violence, rape and murder.

Police chiefs said crackdowns on kerb crawlers in two Bolton areas are under way, and they would continue to allow support groups and charities to work with prostitutes and help them leave the sex trade.

Chief Supt Dave Lea, head of Bolton police, said: "We've got a partnership approach with agencies in the town which has proved useful for us in targeting dangerous individuals and in diverting women away from that lifestyle.

"Enforcement is part of that approach, but we must be careful that these groups are allowed to continue their work in the areas where prostitutes are working.

"I would warn anyone, however, that a blatant breach of the law will lead to arrest. There has to be a balance between supporting sex workers to help them leave prostitution and the concerns of residents and businesses who do not want this on their doorstep."

Chief Supt Lea said a partnership between officers and charities like Bolton-based Urban Outreach, whose workers deal with prostitutes face to face, had allowed police to convict men responsible for subjecting women to a string of attacks.

Four men were convicted last year of a range of crimes against prostitutes in Bolton including rape, murder and serious assault.

Prostitution was driven out of residential areas around The Haulgh by a crackdown launched after the murders of vice girls Danielle Moorcroft in 2002, and 17-year-old Carly Bateman eight months earlier.

Chief Supt Lea said kerb crawlers would now be targeted in Great Lever and Bolton town centre.

Home Office minister Fiona Mactaggart said the strategy to target kerb crawlers would reduce the demand for prostitution, but charities and campaigners fear the trade will be pushed underground.

Dave Bagley, who runs Urban Outreach from a base in the Shiffnall Street area, where many of Bolton's prostitutes operate, said: "Anything which disrupts the areas where these women operate potentially poses problems in working with them to get them to get out of prostitution.

"If you have 20 girls working in one area at the same time, they will see a violent punter's car and share that information.

"If you disperse them into brothels or other parts of a town, there is a chance that they become more vulnerable."