A councillor is hoping to set up a WhatsApp group to combat crime and anti-social behaviour in her area after the success residents in Over Hulton have had with theirs.

Cllr Andrea Taylor-Burke has asked residents in her area if they would like to implement the scheme "Whats Appening in Little Lever and Darcy Lever" after she heard on Bolton FM about other residents in the borough tackling crime by supporting each other on the social media messaging platform.

The initiative, which first began in Over Hulton, has seen crime reduced with police officers also in the WhatsApp groups.

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The area has around 1,500 homes and around 1,100 residents have joined a WhatsApp Group where incidents are reported.

The Over Hulton Information Outlet is split into eight different groups and is even used by police in the area.

And now after hearing about the initiative, Cllr Burke also wants one set up in her area.

She said: "After listening to John Bullen's (member of the Over Hulton Community Group) visit to Bolton FM community corner and speaking to Tony Bridge, our resident radio presenter for Bolton FM, I think it maybe good for us to have a similar thing set up as Over Hulton have.

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"The basic principle is a WhatsApp group for Little Lever and Darcy Lever.

"Due to the amount of people in our ward there would have to be multiple groups covering all areas.

"Each area would need an admin who would monitor the content and make sure rules are followed.

"The group would be for people to put in incidents of anti-social behaviour and crime.

"The group would just be for sharing information on this nature only, a place where information could be shared instantly to make people aware of issues happening at that point in time.

"I know there is some effective groups out there already that I am part of and have been made aware of but if we had a separate system that runs on the same principles, it gives people a point of call.

"If so I cannot do it myself, I would be looking for volunteers and group admins for different areas of the ward.

"I will look at the map and divide the ward into 10 areas.

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"People would be able to subscribe to their area by submitting their telephone number.

"If this is something we think would work I can set up a community meeting for people to get involved and make it happen."

Cllr Burke said the groups will allow support to be given if needed.

She said: "It will give people a direct point for call if they see anything untoward happening.

"Obviously it doesn't mean that they don't need to report to police but if they saw something happening that they can put on their area WhatsApp and others can be aware and support could be given if needed.

"Similar if not the same as neighbourhood watch."

Mr Bullen said the new crime fighting tool rin their area has been transformational.

He said: “Before we started this which would be three years ago we would be getting three to four crime reports every week.

“Now in the last eight months we have reported two to three crimes.

“Over the last 12 months crime has halved.”

If you are keen to join in with the WhatsApp scheme in Little Lever and Darcy Lever, contact Cllr Burke.