Ledbury Town Council will not be paying for security to help reduce anti-social behaviour in a town park.

Councillors had considered a proposal to hire a park warden as a way of dealing with some of the problems at the Recreation Ground.

But the council’s Environment and Leisure Committee decided against the plan amid concerns it wouldn’t have the desired impact.

Councillor Nick Sims told the meeting it was clear anti-social behaviour was happening in lots of other towns and was something all towns wanted to reduce.

READ MORE: Ledbury councillors to consider plan for Recreation Ground park keeper

But after looking at a report put before councillors, he said it would be unwise to pay for additional security as the advice received was that it may not have much impact on reducing such behaviour.

Councillor Nina Shields said residents were concerned that improving security at the Rec would only serve to move the anti-social behaviour elsewhere.

She said members of the public she’d spoken to also worried that employing a park keeper “could create a potential target”.

'People are doing drugs all day long'

Councillors voted against the proposal - but agreed that having a police representative attend their committee meetings would be helpful.

Councillor Tony Bradford, who proposed the park warden idea, said the Rec’s problems are not getting any better.

“There are drug deals going on down the Rec and people doing drugs all day long,” he told the Ledbury Reporter.

“There’s a young man who goes down and picks up all the litter, including drugs paraphenalia, and he just gets abuse.

Ledbury Reporter: Cllr Tony Bradford says drug taking is rife at the RecCllr Tony Bradford says drug taking is rife at the Rec

“We’re not talking about 10 and 11-year-olds here - they are the victims in all of this because they can’t go there to play.

“I know of men in their 20s, 30s and 40s going down there and taking drugs - it’s rife.

“We want people to feel safe walking through the park, but at the moment you can walk through there on any given day and get a load of verbal abuse.

“And if we do move people on to go and do it elsewhere - good. At least they’d not be down the Rec - let them go somewhere else.”