Gang members to go on activities course in bid to break crime ties

They are among hundreds of young people from across London taking part in a Home Office scheme tackling gang warfare and anti-social behaviour.

Westminster council is among several London boroughs backing a project which includes placing gang members on residential courses in the Lake District.

The council has commissioned the Cumbria-based charity Brathay Hall Trust to mentor 20 members of the SMG Blood gang from the Mozart Estate in Queen's Park.

It includes prolific offenders who have been arrested for offences such as serious violence, drug dealing and carrying weapons. A spokesman for Westminster council said the scheme had recently been approved and the details were still being worked out.

The eight-month project is backed by an £80,000 Home Office grant and includes a six-day course at a centre outside London. One possibility was a week of training at the charity HQ in the Lake District.

Councillor Daniel Astaire, Westminster's spokesman for community safety, said a final decision on sending the youngsters to the Cumbrian destination had yet to be made.

He said: "We need to weigh up our clear policy guideline that Westminster will not reward bad behaviour, with the fact there is ample evidence that Brathay has a proven track record in tackling gang violence. Rest assured that we are not looking at sending gang members on holiday camps.

"There is a significant community benefit to be able to diminish gang culture. If you improve the gang problem you also improve life for the vast majority of young people who have the most to fear from it escalating out of control.

"The cost of doing nothing and letting gang culture escalate and permeate our communities would be a large price to pay."

The Brathay charity is behind a similar project called X-it which is running in Lambeth.

It has been sending youngsters to the Lake District for several years. Out of 25 young people who took part in 2008, a total of 18 did not re-offend.

The council took the action after a rise in gang violence in the Queen's Park area.

In 2008, 14-year-old Amro Elbadawi, a member of the SD Crew gang on the Mozart estate, was stabbed to death in a "playfight" with a friend. Last year Youssif Drissi, 16, was sentenced to two years in a young offender institution.

The Westminster scheme will involve charity workers spending months getting to know individual gang members.

Julia Wolton, the Brathay youth worker who is coordinating the programme, said they used other youngsters to get the gang members onside and build trust.

Ms Wolton said: "This is certainly no holiday. We work them from 9am to 9pm. The change in young people can be dramatic."

The Lake District project involves activities including rope courses, caving, climbing and rowing as well as exercises to discover how their behaviour impacts on others.

Brathay's chief executive Godfrey Owen said: "We are working with young people to change their behaviour. The fact that we are out of London is irrelevant. It is about the facilities and the skilled staff we have here."

So far this year the charity has worked with 5,000 different people not only in the Lake District but also in London and other cities.