POLICE have promised to deal with drug takers congregating on Addingham's disused railway bridge.

Sergeant Peter Corkindale told villagers that dealing with drug problems was one of the priorities of the new Problem Orientated Police strategy which has been introduced into the expanded Keighley Division this month.

At the annual village meeting, Parish Councillor Danny Palmer referred officers to the story in the Ilkley Gazette earlier this month which identified the problem.

"I want to know what the police are doing about it," said Coun Palmer.

He added: "If you can't clear it out in a village of this size then you don't have a cat in hell's chance of doing it in Bradford."

Sgt Corkindale, of Ilkley police, said: "Drug crime is one of the priorities of the police as a whole - there is a dedicated team in Keighley for drug offences."

Members of the audience demanded to know what facilities there were in Addingham for young people as an alternative to congregating in out of the way places to drink or take drugs.

But members of the parish council said there were many things for youngsters to do such as the youth club, scouts, guides and youth sections of village sporting teams. Sgt Corkindale said that the parents of youngsters who were causing trouble should be encouraged to attend village meetings as well as the older residents, so they could be made aware of what was going on.

Constable Stuart Hudson, who is based at Bingley police station with seven colleagues, told the meeting that he would be responsible for community policing in Addingham under the new strategy.

He is a former member of the Community Action Team which was charged with solving the problem of rowdy youths congregating in the village Memorial Hall car park.

He said that problems caused by youths were now approached with a multi-agency strategy involving the police, social services, the council's youth services and event the education and health authority.

But parish council chairman Alan Jerome said that a high-profile police presence in the village would deter youngsters from acting in anti-social ways.

"If they know they are unlikely to see a police presence in the

village they don't feel any anxiety about doing their misdeeds," said Coun Jerome.

Coun Jerome dismissed a suggestion from one resident to have the bridge demolished to solve the problem.

He said: "They will find somewhere else to go - it is out of the way of most people. If they don't do it there, they will find somewhere else to go."

The bridge, which lies between Addingham Primary School and the former First School, has become an evening meeting place for teenagers and is littered with empty cigarette packets, cider bottles and drinks cans.

But police have received recent complaints about hypodermic needles and used condoms also being left there - just yards from school playing fields.

A resident living nearby, who did not want to be identified, said that the youngsters had also been having sex sessions and starting fires.