FEAR of crime remains one of the most significant blights of modern life.

People walking the streets, or sitting in the supposed safety of their own homes, can be made to feel that they are confronted on all sides by crime.

Sometimes the fear of crime is greater than the reality. If we worry about crime, then we are affected by crime - even when nothing has actually befallen us. Yet whatever the statistics say at any moment, crime is all around us and we can all be affected.

Burglary is sadly a commonplace crime these days, yet no matter now many times a home is broken into, the shock remains the same. This is why it is sensible that residents in an area of York much troubled by burglary should be able to have their say on how a crime-busting grant will be spent.

More than £30,000 has been made available to allow people living in the Bootham area to increase security in their homes. Residents will be asked to choose between a number of potential measures, picking out those which they feel are likely to have the greatest effect.

Possible safeguards include brighter street lighting, burglary alarms, Neighbourhood Watch schemes and a security presence.

One proposal is so simple it's a wonder the suggestion has not been taken up all over York. This is to put gates at the end of alleyways that run behind houses. According to Inspector Colin Bowes of York police, such alleyways are used in 90 per cent of burglaries.

Sealing off the burglar's escape route is a good old-fashioned way of increasing security, and is likely to be popular with many residents, especially when they learn that a similar scheme in Scarborough led to a 95 per cent reduction in crime.

Whatever the residents decide, it is right that they should be consulted. For if money is available to fight crime in any given area, then those most at risk should be able to set the priorities.