Communities across Norwich have been encouraged to apply for funding to help launch crime-fighting initiatives in their neighbourhood.

Trustees of Norfolk PACT (Partners Against Crime Taskforce), an independent charity established to help drive down crime in the county, have set up a fund available to communities to encourage them to put forward new project ideas.

Each group can apply for up to �500 to help establish a project which aims to achieve one or more of the following:

Cutting local crime and anti-social behaviour.

Positive activities for young people.

Supporting victims of crime and anti-social behaviour.

Stimulating an interest in voluntary work.

Helping to strengthen local communities.

Improving the quality of life in local communities.

Sally Rozier, pictured, chief executive of Norfolk PACT, said 'There are few restrictions on the type of projects; your ideas can be simple and down to earth or pioneering and adventurous.

'We will be looking for projects that have the potential to develop and become self-sustaining.'

Any group with a viable new project idea is encouraged to apply.

Projects which involve collaborative working between different groups in a community, local businesses, local schools and the Safer Neighbourhood Policing Teams will be looked on particularly favourably.

Norfolk PACT is a partnership between the private and public sectors, working with the people of Norwich and Norfolk to fund ways of improving quality of life by reducing the causes and effects of crime.

The charity supported the Evening News's Beat the Burglar initiative which was launched, in conjunction with Norfolk police, at the end of October to mark the darker evenings – a time which usually sees a rise in burglary offences.

The Evening News ran a series of articles offering readers information about how they can best protect themselves against becoming a victim and how burglaries are investigated and brought before the courts.

For an application for funding, email norfolkpact@norfolk.pnn.police.uk or write to Norfolk PACT at Jubilee House, Falconers Chase, Wymondham, Norfolk NR18 0WW.

To find out more about Norfolk PACT, call 01953 424727 or log on to www.norfolk.pact.co.uk

Have you got a crime story for the Evening News? Call reporter Peter Walsh on 01603 772436 or email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk