3 March 2013 Last updated at 09:25 ET

Doncaster signs agreement to tackle 'heritage' crime

An initiative to tackle thieves and vandals who target historic buildings has been launched in Doncaster.

The borough is the first metropolitan council in England to sign the heritage crime enforcement memorandum.

The agreement requires the council to work with English Heritage and the police to investigate and prosecute crimes against historic buildings.

Heritage crime is defined as an offence which harms the value of heritage assets and their settings.

The independent mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies, said: "We need to protect our heritage. We need to preserve buildings that people in Doncaster treasure. This new measure will give us another bolt to the armoury in trying to deal with the problem."

Doncaster has almost 800 listed buildings and recent examples of heritage crime include the theft of lead from church roofs, thefts from historic houses and damage to war memorials, he added.