High-rise council flats plagued by drug users could benefit from the Government's new neighbourhood renewal initiative.

A Bradford Council report claims tenants who abuse drugs encourage other users to apply for flats in Delph House and Leylands House, Keighley.

In a bid to hit back, the Council has spent £32,000 on upgrading security cameras, four of which can be moved to focus on hot spots.

Now tenants in the 189 flats are calling on the authority to renovate the two 11-storey blocks, which have not been refurbished for ten years, to help defeat the anti-social behaviour.

Conservative Councillor Andrew Mallinson (Keighley North) wants the Parkwood Rise flats to be considered for a share of the £300,000 neighbourhood renewal cash allocated to Bradford. And the Council's scrutiny committee is being urged to set up a public meeting aimed at establishing a tenants' association.

"This Government money is possibly a chance of a lifetime for these flats. They have been neglected but there needs to be a community group prepared to come forward and get involved," he said. If the flats were selected, officers would be dedicated to work with tenants to see how to best make improvements, he added.

The scrutiny committee is also recommending that housing and enforcement officers work together to stamp out anti-social behaviour.

A tenancy involvement team, made up of officers, should work alongside residents, it recommends. And the costs of improvements to the communal areas outside the flats should be estimated. The report reveals large-scale vandalism, including damage to ceilings by people trying to reach concealed security cameras used to identify troublemakers. But it claims action already taken by officers targeting tenants has helped reduce the problem.

One woman tenant in Delph House, who did not want to be identified, said: "There is a lot of drug dealing going on here. We see it. It means a lot of people want to get out."

Her friend, a mother of a 13-year-old boy, who also insisted on remaining anonymous, said: "Ninety per cent of the people here are decent, it's just the other ten per cent who are bringing it down. We don't need them.