CONFUSION surrounds the status of the government's Respect agenda and Bournemouth's role as one of the country's "Respect Zones".

Less than a year since Bournemouth was heralded as one of the government's 40 "Respect Zones", there are reports the entire initiative has been scrapped.

Louise Casey, the Respect commissioner, has been moved to another job and the Respect taskforce has been replaced by a youth taskforce.

But antisocial behaviour officers at Bournemouth council say the change is purely an administrative one and will have no detrimental effect on their day-to-day work to stamp out yobbish behaviour.

Councillor David Smith, portfolio holder for communities said: "The work with the youth taskforce is extremely positive and we will continue with all our efforts to help tackle anti social behaviour in the community.

"The Respect work carried out in Bournemouth to date has been immensely successful and we hope this to continue under the youth taskforce."

But Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood, who was a fierce critic of the Respect programme and Bournemouth's involvement with it, said it would not be missed.

"It was a complete gimmick from the start," he said. "It was an initiative designed purely to gain national headlines rather than actually meet some of the challenges that many towns such as Bournemouth face.

"We have some excellent initiatives taking place here and the government should have more faith in allowing local communities to solve these issues themselves."

A spokesperson for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said the new youth taskforce was continuing the work of the Respect programme.

"The Respect programme has been successful and the majority of commitments in the Respect Action Plan have been met.

"The Youth Taskforce was established in October to take the work of the Respect programme to the next stage and put an even greater focus on the twin track approach to promote earlier intervention and more positive activities for young people."