Prostitution is causing problems in Manningham, according to locals.

Decades ago, Lumb Lane became known as Bradford’s red light district and it was immortalised as “The Lane” in 1990s drama Band of Gold.

Police successfully rid the area of sex workers, but now it seems the problem is back.

A 1,591-signature petition has been sent to Bradford Council calling for something to be done about the issue, which is affecting a number of streets in the area.

The petition is from a group calling themselves the ‘Lumb Lane business community’ and because it has more than 1,500 signatures, Council rules mean the issue must be discussed at a meeting of the full Council.

Councillors will debate the problem for up to 15 minutes at their next meeting, on Tuesday.

Councillor Imran Hussain (Lab), executive member for safer and stronger communities, said he believed the petition had been handed in a few months ago and since then the Council had been working with the police to address locals’ concerns.

He said: “We take concerns around this type of issue very seriously and the Council and its partners have been working in partnership to resolve these issues.”

The neighbourhood policing team (NPT) for Manningham and Toller has identified tackling the sex trade as one of its priorities. On the police team’s website, the problem area is identified as Lumb Lane, Gracechurch Street, Sedgewick Close, Hanover Square and Bowland Street.

For the past few months the team has been carrying out an operation to tackle both prostitution and drug use, which has seen a number of arrests made.

West Yorkshire Police’s Vice Team has also been working with partnership agencies to engage with local sex workers.

At the beginning of the crackdown in March, NPT Inspector Richard Baildon said: “Not only is prostitution damaging to the women involved, but also to local businesses and residents.

“We recognise, however, the many layers involved in tackling this issue and we are working hard to address each of them.”