INVESTMENT in young people's activities is ensuring the only bangs and crashes this November 5 are from the sound of fireworks.
And extra police deployed at Bonfire Night celebrations alongside youth workers has brought peace to previously troubled estates in North East Lincolnshire.
The partnership between agencies, including Humberside Police, Humberside Fire And Rescue service and North East Lincolnshire Council youth services, codenamed Operation Kincorth, has ended the dark days of widespread vandalism and antisocial behaviour.
It is a far cry from the nights around Halloween and Bonfire Night when fire crews feared attending incidents on Grimsby housing estates because of gangs of youths pelting them with planks of wood and stones.
In the past, more than half of assaults on fire crews happen during this time.
Now a series of events, including football academies, street dance sessions and discos are providing more positive alternatives to violence and vandalism on the streets of the borough.
Providing places for young people to meet has saved an estimated £250,000, according to Home Office figures.
Youth activities in 2007 attracted 697 young people. That has more than doubled in recent years as the number of antisocial behaviour incidents more than halved.
There were 217 in 2007 incidents and less than 100 in the past two years.
PC Leighton Kaye and young people's support service project lead Donna Chandler toured the borough in the multi-agency vehicle for information sharing (MAVIS) as the first of the weekend Bonfire Night celebrations got underway – including at Grimsby Rugby Club.
Donna said: "We have got activities going on at Bradley pitches and John Whitgift Academy. The situation has really improved in the past couple of years."
The YPSS's street-based mobile unit, which has a host of computer games and activities, was not deployed for fear of a firework being thrown inside, but a team of dedicated youth workers engaged with young people, advising them on the risks of drug abuse and curbing underage drinking.
