RANGERS dressed in red will now be patrolling the streets of Eastleigh in a first for Hampshire.

The new Town Rangers, brought in by the town’s new Business Improvement District (BID), are designed to pro-actively keep the town clean and safe and support businesses, making it a better place to live and work.

They will patrol the town centre and Leigh Road liaising with businesses, police and local authorities.

Their role includes providing first aid, distributing leaflets, reporting crime, keeping contact with all the businesses in the BID area and promoting the BID’s services.

Each will carry a two-way radio so they communicate with businesses in the area, CCTV operators and the police.

The BID was started up by Eastleigh businesses earlier this month and will run for five years working to promote the town’s businesses through marketing and promotion, car parking incentives, encouraging pop-up shops and staging town centre events.

More than 300 town centre businesses pay a levy towards the service.

Such rangers are the first of their type in Hampshire, but similar tactics have been used in other parts of the country for more than ten years.

The rangers have been trained, which included spending time with town rangers in Rugby.

At least one ranger will be on duty between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Saturday.