Off-roaders are causing a nuisance at a disused school field, according to nearby residents.

People living near the former St George RC Middle School, Undercliffe, are so fed up with noisy bikes being driven around the old playing field, they have petitioned the Council.

Ward councillor David Gray (Lib Dem) said the quad bikers and off-road motorcyclists weren’t just upsetting people who lived nearby, they were also scaring wildlife and leaving mud on the roads.

He said: “It has been a thorn in our side for years. Now it is being used by 4x4s, as well as off-road bikes. It used to be used for dumping vehicles and setting them on fire, before the value of scrap went up.

“They churn the land up, they frighten the wildlife and the main thing is they disturb and annoy residents.

“Then, when they drive off, all the soil that gets on the tyres is a nuisance on the highways.”

Bradford Council is now considering how best to deal with the problem, after residents in Cranmer Road, Exmouth Place and Barmouth Terrace sent them a petition calling for action to be taken.

A report, written for the next Bradford East Area Committee meeting on Friday, said Council officers had visited the site and found that the vehicles were getting into the field by the southern boundary, near Sprinkwell Close.

All the other boundaries had obstructions in place restricting access.

The report puts forward three options to the Council’s Children’s Services department – installing steel joists across the southern boundary and digging a ditch to stop vehicles getting in, installing fencing or doing nothing.

The report says: “Given the distress that unauthorised vehicular access to the site is causing nearby residents and the danger that such unauthorised access presents to other users of the playing field, officers do not consider doing nothing to be a viable option.”

Officers are recommending the option of installing steel joists as the department doesn’t have the budget to pay for fencing.

They are asking the Area Committee to back this recommendation before a decision is made.

Councillor Gray said he would welcome any action to block access to the field.

He said: “Whether it be bollards or metal joists or whatever, we are only concerned with the outcome, that it is resolved.”