People in Thornton are campaigning for the closure of an alleyway after enduring years of verbal abuse, litter and crime.

Matthew Vento, of Oakhall Park, has been forced to install CCTV cameras around his home after a number of attempts to steal his car and garden furniture.

He said: "Since buying my house, the alleyway down the side has been made more accessible which has caused me no end of problems."

Mr Vento said the snicket had become a meeting place for youths.

"We can't even sit in the garden and have a family meal without them staring through the fence and hurling abuse at us. I really wouldn't have moved here if I'd known it would be like this," he said.

Neighbour John Raper said: "The alleyway runs down the side of my house and around the back of my garden.

"Since some concrete steps were put in place two years ago it has become more accessible and attracted drug-taking and under-age drinking. It also acts as an escape route for criminals."

Mr Raper said the footpath, linking Oakhall Park with Market Street, was rarely used but previous attempts to close it had been unsuccessful.

He said: "We organised a petition last year and presented it to the Council in October but nothing has been done.

"There is no logical reason to have a footpath here. Nobody even uses it."

Councillor John Buffham (Con, Thornton) said: "I fully sympathise with the residents and they are quite entitled to call for the closure of the alleyway. It has caused them a lot of problems with teenagers loitering there.

"When they presented the petition at the West Area committee meeting in October we agreed the alleyway should be closed but it would seem it is not as easy as that because it is a countryside right of way."

A spokesman for Bradford Council's Rights of Way department said: "New powers came into force in February enabling councils to close public rights of way within a defined designated area if it can be shown that they are being used for the persistent commissioning of crime."

With a pilot scheme currently underway in Little Horton, the Council said it would be looking to progress the initiative in other areas.