Education Secretary Ruth Kelly will be in Birmingham today to help launch a major crackdown against anti-social behaviour.
She will announce plans to give communities powers to grill the police on their battle with low-level crime - and demand tougher action.
Tony Blair will unveil the measures simultaneously in London.
The measures, part of the Government's "Respect" agenda, will see police officers, council and other officials forced to detail what they are doing to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Crime and disorder reduction panels, which include police, education and housing officials, and representatives of the fire and health services, will hold regular public meetings.
Where there is persistent anti-social behaviour and the local authority has failed to act, residents will gain the right to trigger action themselves.
This means council officials will be forced to deal with the problem, whether by pursuing anti-social behaviour orders or by other means, and is designed to ensure they listen to the concerns of residents.
Reports of the Govern-ment's plans were welcomed by Birmingham MP Steve McCabe (Lab Hall Green).
He said: "It is about making it clear what we will and will not tolerate in 21st century Britain.
"If you talk to people across all cultural groups or social groups, there is a common thread about what they think is acceptable.
"They don't want to see people threatening them for no reason, being violent or abusive, or throwing up in the street.
"We have already given the various agencies and authorities a lot of powers to deal with these issues.
"These new announcements are about ensuring they work together and respond to public concerns."
The measures come as Mr Blair struggles to take back the political agenda, with attention at Westminster focusing on the Government's controversial proposals for school reform.
The measures include a roll-out of community support officers, with numbers increasing from 6,000 to 24,000. Police will gain the power to close premises used persistently for crime and anti-social behaviour, building on the success of existing powers to close premises used for drug dealing.
There will be greater supervision of young offenders under non-custodial sentences. Instead of seeing an official once a week, their movements will be under intense supervision.
And there will be an extension of voluntary parenting classes, with courts encouraged to use the powers they have to impose parenting orders.
A Downing Street spokesman said: "We know this is an issue which is at the top of the public's list of concerns and our
approach of encouraging local agencies to implement measures developed nationally is one which is working."
Nick Pearce, director of the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank, said the moves should be a "first step" in handing more control to communities. But he said more investment in deprived areas was also needed.
He said: "The police need to be made more accountable to local communities and local government needs stronger neighbourhood level structures for engaging people." ..SUPL:
