"Neighbourhood wardens" could patrol troubled York estates as part of a plan to combat crime.

The campaign, being launched tomorrow by the city's Liberal Democrat group, could include members of the community working in estates and gathering evidence to pass on to the police.

Councillors will be meeting with York police chief Supt John Lacy, and asking him to investigate possibilities, including that of "neighbourhood wardens".

Coun Steve Galloway, group leader, said the idea had already been tried elsewhere.

"The idea is that Neighbourhood Watch organisation's have more of a passive role, looking out of windows the neighbourhood warden would be slightly more proactive and would patrol the area gathering information for the police."

He said the police had already welcomed steps taken by the council to fund the use of security guards in Clifton.

"What we will be wanting to question is whether some of the money currently being spend by ward committees and by the Safer York Partnership, could be spent on this," added Coun Galloway.

During the General Election campaign, a Liberal Democrat survey found that 66 per cent of people said that vandalism was a problem in their area and 89 per cent wanted to see the police have a higher profile.

In a separate survey 59 per cent supported the council in employing security firms to supplement police patrols in problem areas.

The neighbourhood warden idea is part of a campaign to focus more attention on "street level" crime over the summer, Coun Galloway said.

The campaign is to be launched tomorrow morning at Sanderson House in Bramham Road, Chapelfields, which has been dubbed the "most vandalised block of flats in York".

Coun Nick Blitz, one of the council's representatives on the North Yorkshire Police Authority, will announce the start of a survey to gather more information about people's views, starting off in Chapelfields.

They will ask about criminal and anti-social behaviour on estates and particular streets, about abandoned vehicles, noise, vandalism, drug and alcohol abuse as well as burglary and assault.

Coun Blitz said: "Very often people people's perceptions of the safety of a neighbourhood are dictated by what they personally experience. What they hear, what they see, what they encounter as they walk down the street."

They hope to visit all the estates in York by the end of the summer.

Updated: 08:54 Monday, June 25, 2001