A £323,000 war chest set aside for Bolton Council's fight against yobs and nightmare families, has been handed over by the Government.

The Whitehall grant is being awarded to the town because it was made one of 40 "Respect Zones" earmarked as needing extra help in tackling anti-social behaviour.

Part of the money will go towards funding "supernannies" who will be responsible for giving parenting lessons to the families of persistent tearaways as well as a "family intervention" programme which will work with nightmare neighbours.

Council bosses said the money would be used to focus on dealing with youngsters and families before they became a problem.

The Government's "respect tsar", Louise Casey, was in Bolton yesterday to meet with front-line council officers who deal with young louts and tenants who blight the lives of their neighbours. She officially announced the grant.

She said: "Bolton has already made excellent progress which is why we recently recognised it as one of the government's flagship Respect Areas.

"The new funding includes money to fund parenting programmes and to fund a designated parenting expert to ensure we get to problems in the home before they spill out into the community."