PILOT schemes introduced by the Army to give fresh hope to Burnley teenagers are now set to be rolled out across the UK.

The Lancashire Telegraph first revealed three years ago how hard-to-reach young people had been earmarked for the ‘boot camp’ courses designed to broaden their horizons.

Now the Lifemaps and TED (Tactical Educational Development) programmes pioneered in Burnley are to be extended to Redcar, near Middlesbrough, and Burslem, in the Potteries.

An evaluation report on TED, which is backed by the Prince’s Trust, showed that, of 27 people who take part in the initiative, 22 had progressed to education or employment.

And anti-social behaviour levels, among the test sample, dropped dramatically, saving the town an estimated £330,000-plus in policing costs.

Elizabeth Spencer, 19, from Rosegrove, who took part, has gone on to become a photo lab technician and is full of praise for the scheme.

“It has been a great help and given me a lot of confidence to go on make something of myself,” she said.

Sam Lockwood, 19, from Coal Clough, formed The TWISTER (Teenagers Working In Society to Earn Respect) Project with colleagues from the course.

“We all got together on the army residential course and thought people were giving us a bad name so we set up TWISTER,” he said.

A Prince’s Trust spokesman said: “The Army has agreed that the TED and Lifemaps programmes, piloted in as a Prince’s Trust partnership in Burnley, will be extended to our projects in Burslem and Redcar, and potentially 10 locations in the UK.”

In a progress report on Lifemaps, Insp Phil Hutchinson highlighted the joined-up approach of the scheme and the way it brought in so many agencies to support the youths.