POLICE have this week assured parish councillors in Fearnhead that an innovative new scheme designed to help victims of bullying will go head once arrangements have been finalised.

At the last meeting of Poulton with Fearnhead Parish Council, members expressed their disappointment at rumours that the scheme, called 'REACT', had been halted by police chiefs.

But Sergeant Simon Lowe of Risley Community Action team has refuted the rumours and reassured the community that the scheme will go ahead.

It was claimed that REACT, the brainchild of community support officer Tom Orr, had been stopped in its tracks despite winning financial backing from the parish council.

The scheme is designed to provide children with an extra lifeline in the fight against bullying by supplying cards printed with a list of helpful numbers in the area.

Parish councillors voted unanimously to support the project and heaped praised on Mr Orr for the idea, pledging to pay £350 for printing costs.

Speaking at the time, Mr Orr said: "Working in collaboration with schools and the community development team, I hope to be an extra link in the chain to help stamp out bullying."

But at the last meeting of the parish council, Clr Mick Curran expressed his disappointment at news that the scheme had been stopped just as it was ready to be put into action.

But Sgt Lowe said: "The scheme has not been shelved, we are just not issuing the cards until we have finalised which telephone numbers will be printed on them. Once we've got that sorted we'll be going ahead.

"Community Action officer Tom Orr is still visiting schools in the area to talk about bullying and will continue to do so.

"We are very interested in the scheme as it will be of great benefit to young people and the community as a whole."