NORTH Yorkshire police will be allowed to appoint street wardens from today to work side-by-side with full-time officers.

Council leaders, voluntary groups and housing associations will be invited to put forward people to take part in the controversial scheme.

Those who are accepted will be required to wear a badge and uniform to make them easily identifiable to the public.

Dubbed "Blunkett's bobbies", they will patrol crime hot-spots and look out for loutish behaviour.

The powers they are allowed will be down to individual chief constables, but they will be allowed to issue warnings to youths causing trouble. Critics have labelled the move an attempt to increase police numbers "on the cheap".

But the Home Office insisted it would free full-time police to investigate serious crimes.

Police Minister Bob Ainsworth said: "These new measures will allow chief constables to ensure that a high calibre of accredited and contracted staff are available to strengthen local crime reduction partnerships.

"Accredited staff will be given limited, but targeted powers at the discretion of chief constables to deal with low-level disorder and public nuisance."

The new power is included in the Police Reform Act, which became law today.

Updated: 11:10 Tuesday, April 01, 2003