HOME secretary David Blunkett urged the community to pull together to fight crime and anti-social behaviour when he visited Weymouth.

He hailed the community spirit in Westham when he called in at the sheltered housing complex at Fairway Court in Bedford Road and backed a campaign for a new community centre in the area.

Mr Blunkett was welcomed at the complex by community worker Kris Hallett, South Dorset MP Jim Knight and community support officers Richard Shirley and Trevor Skinner.

He met Westham residents, PC Colin Bell and youngsters to hear of their concerns and efforts to improve the area before heading off to the Prince Regent Hotel for talks with police, hoteliers and council staff about anti-social behaviour.

But Mr Blunkett also called for communities to pull together and follow the example of Westham after being read a story about crime in yesterday's Dorset Echo.

He said: "There is talk of vandalism and anti-social behaviour. But if everyone pulls together we can really turn things around.

"We have police and community support officers as well as such powers as anti-social behaviour orders but it is prevention that really matters."

He added: "In this area they recently collected rubbish, have cleared the area of graffiti and put on activities for young people.

"People are saying we can do it if we get a little bit of help."

Mr Blunkett praised the efforts of Mrs Hallett, who is employed as a Weymouth and Portland Housing community development worker to regenerate Westham, and police community support officers for their efforts.

Mr Blunkett met residents of Fairway Court as well as teenagers Kirsty Sanford, 15, Jenny Clark, 15, James Lucas, 15, and Steven White, 13.

Jenny said: "He was really nice and friendly."

Mr Blunkett attended a Labour Party fundraiser after the private meeting at Prince Regent.

But he dashed Dorset Police Authority's hopes of winning a 5.7 per cent increase in funding for next year after concerns raised earlier this week.

Mr Blunkett said it was not possible to provide 5.7 per cent but that he was trying to get an increase of as much over three per cent as he could and there were such initiatives as the rural policing fund which the Dorset force was taking advantage of.

He added that he would not accept the loss of police or community support officers and hoped that the authority would not find the funding as bad as they expected.