VILLAGERS in Williton are being urged to tell the police about any incidents of vandalism or anti-social behaviour in the Memorial Ground.

Parish councillors have spent hundreds of pounds repairing damage in the children's play area over the past year and have also had to deal with graffiti and empty bottles left from drinking sessions on the ground.

But local beat police community support officer Sue Thompson told councillors at their monthly meeting on Monday that police had received just six calls in the past six months relating to alleged incidents.

These ranged from damage to the main gate to reports of a man with a samurai sword, who turned out to be someone practising karate.

Other calls related to youths drinking and two young men having an argument.

Ms Thompson said it was quite hard to "square" the picture being painted of the problems compared to the police logs.

"I patrol the Memorial Ground regularly and I patrol it on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights," she said.

"I know the hotspots and I have to say that I dispose of more alcohol in Watchet than in Williton.

"On each of these calls, a unit attended."

But Cllr Rebecca James said the public had to be encouraged to ring the police - on the non-emergency 101 number - if they witnessed any incidents.

"They have tended to ring us rather than the police and we are trying to get the message across that they can tell us about as well but they need to ring the police in the first instance.

"We have to be the eyes and ears of the police because they cannot be around all the time."

Council chairman Cllr Robert McDonald said the authority wanted to encourage people to be vigilant and report anything suspicious so incidents could be formally recorded by the police.

Councillors were told that in the past month police had dealt with 58 calls on the 101 number relating to the Williton area and there had been a total of 15 crimes recorded.

These ranged from criminal damage and domestic assault to theft and burglary.