ANTISOCIAL behaviour among teenagers living on council estates in Brighton and Hove is reducing thanks to youth projects, councillors have been told.

Feedback from housing teams has been positive for the past year, with fewer reports of antisocial behaviour by young people, according to a report going before two council committees.

The feedback is anecdotal but Brighton and Hove City Council housing officers have reported reductions in complaints at joint meetings.

A report into how money is spent on youth projects is looking at how successful each area has been in involving young people and reducing antisocial behaviour.

About 2,200 young people across the city have gone along to various projects set up by organisations funded by the council, making on average eight visits each.

A survey of 53 young people taking part in projects called Progress Star suggested improvements in teenagers’ confidence, more involvement in their community and increases in their skills.

B.Game, a young people’s gaming group run by Brighton Youth Centre for teenagers in the city centre, started out as a monthly event and has brought a group together who met weekly at other events.

The report going before the council’s Children, Young People and Skills Committee described how gaming together had got some young people out of the house.

It said: “One young man, 17, who on first meeting said, ‘I don’t go out of my house,’ is now a regular attendee at youth club and took part in a two-day residential over the summer.”

Another young person quoted in the report said: “I spend too much time on the screen on my own. I was really miserable before I came here.”

A high number of young people working with the Hangleton and Knoll Project faced a multitude of difficulties from mental health problems to being disengaged with school.

When the Children, Young People and Skills Committee meets on Monday it is being asked to extend youth contracts until the end of September next year to allow more time for recommissioning.

Members of the Housing and New Homes Committee are being asked to contribute an extra £125,000 at a meeting next Wednesday to cover an extra six months until the programme goes out to tender again.

Both committees are due to meet at Hove Town Hall. The meetings start at 4pm and should be open to the public.