A PIONEERING campaign which has been used to reduce under-age drinking in St Neots could be used elsewhere in the UK. Leon Livermore, head of Cambridgeshire Trading Standards and Charlotte Wilson, trading standards officer visited the Home Office on Janua

A PIONEERING campaign which has been used to reduce under-age drinking in St Neots could be used elsewhere in the UK.

Leon Livermore, head of Cambridgeshire Trading Standards and Charlotte Wilson, trading standards officer visited the Home Office on January 8 to discuss the Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP).

Miss Wilson, the CAP project manager, told The Hunts Post that Home Office staff were impressed with the projects "holistic approach and innovative ideas".

She said: "They seemed to like the project's joined up approach that has seen us working with a number of different agencies."

The project included sending letters to the parents of nearly 3,000 St Neots secondary school children asking for their help in tackling under-age drinking. Parents were also invited to attend an alcohol awareness session to help them better understand the dangers of underage drinking.

Miss Wilson said: "The Home Office are working on a tool kit to help reduce under-age drinking and they said they may incorporate some of the ideas we have used in CAP into the kit.

"There is no doubt that this project has made a difference in St Neots and the people at the Home Office recognised that.

"On the ground, I am seeing far less youngsters gathering in groups in the town's hotspots and we are confiscating a lot less alcohol - it has all been very positive.