Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Police are teaming up to make life harder for criminals targeting parts of Longsight.

Joint council and police patrols will be operating around the Victoria Park area on Wednesday 10 February between 4pm and 6pm and between 5pm and 7pm on Thursday 11 February.

They will be focusing particularly on Ashfield Road, Scarsdale Road and Clarence Road where council officers, police officers and PCSOS will be knocking on doors and giving tenants free home security checks and crime prevention advice. They will also be directing tenants to schemes providing free window locks, door chains, peep holes and mortice locks and the fire service will working with the patrols to provide free home fire risk assessments.

Manchester City Council Deputy Leader, Councillor Jim Battle said: "This is a very popular area for students to live in. As they settle back into life in Manchester after the Christmas break we want to make sure they, and all the other residents in the area, have the information they need to keep their homes and their property safe. We will be working closely with the police to do all we can to help them protect their homes from burglars."

Inspector Steve Palmer from the Longsight and Ardwick Neighbourhood Policing Team said: "The Respect Action programme has seen huge successes over the past few years and these two days will see us visiting hundreds of our residents and raising awareness of how they can keep their homes and property safe."

The Community Payback Team will also be clearing alleyways in the Victoria Park area, cutting back overgrown weeds, litter picking and removing fly-tipping on 8 and 9 of February.