Residents have praised police officers for slashing crime on housing estates once blighted with a reputation for crime.

The success of a new policing strategy has proved so successful the estates have even bucked the national trend with a fall in violent crime.

The East Brighton area of Brighton and Hove has suffered a tarnished reputation during the last decade because of crime and anti-social behaviour.

However, in the past three years the Government scheme, eb4u (east brighton for you) has provided £47.2 million of funds for regeneration.

Part of that scheme has been a community safety project, working with police to crack down on crime and rid the estates of people involved in anti-social behaviour.

The eb4u project is going into its fourth year. Yesterday Chief Inspector Lance Gray and Inspector Steve Curry, of Brighton and Hove police, made a presentation of crime figures to the Whitehawk Crime Prevention Forum.

According to the figures, there has been an eight per cent fall in crime overall in East Brighton in 2002, compared with the previous year.

There was an eight per cent fall in crime in the Whitehawk and Manor Farm areas last year and a nine per cent fall on the Moulsecoomb and Bates estates.

The biggest drop in crime was in the last three months of 2002. In Whitehawk and Manor Farm there was a 24 per cent fall from the previous three months.

Vehicle crime has also been slashed on the Whitehawk and Manor Farm estates, with a 40 per cent fall in the last three months of 2002 compared with July, August and September.

While some areas of the country are reporting increases in violent crime, it fell in Whitehawk and Manor Farm by six per cent.

The cut in crime has been attributed to an all-round approach to tackling crime, criminals and families involved in anti-social behaviour.

CCTV has been installed in Whitehawk and Moulsecoomb, eb4u has funded a police sergeant's post for the area and the community safety team has used powerful anti-social behaviour orders and good behaviour contracts for residents.

Those who have continued to be a nuisance have been evicted from their homes and are not offered other social housing.

Insp Curry told the meeting that officers would not tolerate drug dealing on the estate, a crime often linked to other crimes, such as violence and burglary, as people steal to feed their habits.

The day before the meeting a team of officers had raided a house on the Whitehawk estate suspected of being used for dealing.

Des Turner MP, chairing the meeting in Whitehawk, thanked police and the safety forum.

He said: "We now have an holistic approach to fighting crime and disorder in the eb4u area. This is now being taken up by the rest of the city."