A HUGE community safety event designed to tackle residents' concerns in parts of North Yorkshire has been planned for next month.

The Ryedale Community Safety Partnership will hold a day-long conference called Making A Difference In Ryedale, in an effort to discuss safety issues across the district.

More than 200 people have been invited to the event, to be held on April 2, in Norton, including representatives from every parish council, district and county councillors, and other agencies involved in creating a safer environment for Ryedale's residents.

Community safety officer Ana Richards said a variety of people, including deputy chief constable Peter Bagshaw, from North Yorkshire Police, would be there.

Specialist speaker Brian Steele from the Home Office Burglary Distraction Team would also be offering advice.

The former policeman, who was a chief superintendent in Leeds, said he would be talking about the threat doorstep criminals pose to communities, and ways to tackle the problem.

"In 1997 I dealt with the murder of an 82-year-old lady who lived alone, and I immediately recognised it was one of the few distraction burglaries that had gone wrong."

Mr Steele said he realised the problem of doorstep criminals needed to be looked at in more detail, and he began to work on the problem.

"I could prove massive under-reporting - the most conservative estimates say just one in ten crimes are reported," he said.

Methods of curbing the problem will be on the agenda at the conference, he added.

"Unless effective action is taken distraction burglaries will continue to be the rising crime of the future."

Action plans for the future are also set to be discussed, said Ana.

"We will be looking at intergenerational issues, such as the projects for young people," she said.

"We are also looking at producing a directory of service providers so if a school needs some help for someone they can look up a number and know where to turn to.

"By achieving our stated aims and objectives the partnership can be said to be serving the communities of Ryedale."

Updated: 10:03 Thursday, March 13, 2003