Residents are hitting back at thieves who are targeting Bradford's world heritage site for its trademark Yorkshire stone.

Campaigners in Saltaire are looking at ways to stop the sought-after stone disappearing.

Over the past year there have been numerous reports of thefts, and stones were also ripped up from a pathway in Roberts Park.

Now plans to deter the criminals include marking the stones and urging residents to report all thefts.

And residents in Dove Street, where the majority of the houses have had stone stolen, have launched their own action group to tackle the problem.

Member Helen Charlton, pictured with Shipley MP Chris Leslie, who has also had stone stolen from his garden, said they were also considering CCTV cameras on the back of Gordon Terrace.

"We need to let the criminals know that we are on their case and we're not going to let them get away with it," she said. "Nearly all the garden walls on our street have had at least one stone stolen and it's got to stop."Mr Leslie said he would be writing to every resident to find out which areas were hot-spots.

"We're all suffering because of this and we need to see which areas are the most targeted," he said.

Detective Inspector Trevor Gasson, of Keighley police and the Saltaire heritage community safety sub-group, said many stone thefts went unreported. "It is a major problem in Saltaire, but when we do analysis from the crime reports it doesn't figure that much, so we are urging people to report these thefts," he said.

"One problem is that even if we find someone with a van full of Yorkshire stone, we can't tell where it's from, so we're looking at ways of marking the stone." One possibility is spraying the stone with a special liquid to give it invisible markings.

Saltaire World Heritage Site Officer Caroline Wilkinson said the spray could be the perfect answer as long as it did not damage the stone. "The Yorkshire stone is important to the character of the area," she added.