A NEW information guide has been published to help the Asian community in Banbury find useful services.

The Banbury Asian Directory, produced by the town's Asian Forum, is a free guide to help Asian residents track down services including health, leisure and safety facilities.

The book was launched by Oxfordshire County Council's chief executive Joanna Simons at Woodgreen Youth Centre, Banbury, on Wednesday.

She said: "The message is that everyone is working together to make services available to all."

The initiative began in 2006 when the council's community development team invited members of Banbury's Asian community to a series of workshops to explore their needs.

The workshops developed into the Asian Forum, which now meets every two months.

Forum spokesman Sikander Hayat said: "We want to sit down and talk about making improvements - better education and better facilities."

He said the Asian community wanted a community centre in Banbury and appealed for more people to get involved.