Four patients at a private hospital have been told to "behave or else" after persistently misbehaving on a village bowling green.

The day-release patients from the Willows Nursing Home, in Skipton Road, Steeton, are being served with Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) after forcing villagers to endure their drinking, littering, vomiting and urinating on the bowling green for over a year.

Some residents have even claimed they have spotted the foursome fornicating and exposing themselves.

The news of what is thought to be the first move of its kind in the region was revealed at the last Steeton with Eastburn Parish Council meeting. Community PC Craig Stothers said the decision to serve the ABCs was made after he and Ian Watson, from Bradford Council's ASBO (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders) team, met with managers of the home.

The ABCs are agreements between the patients, managers and the ASBO team that they will not act in an anti-social manner or drink alcohol on the green. If the patients do not comply with their contracts they could have them upgraded to ASBO warning notices -- a last chance before an ASBO is served.

But PC Stothers said ASBOs would be a last resort. He said: "The plan is to nip it in the bud before we get that far."

The Willows is a private hospital which houses 54 patients with varying degrees of mental health problems. Its patients have been a cause for concern in the village and a hot topic of discussion at parish council meetings in recent months.

Police patrols had been stepped up in the area but, according to PC Stothers, simply drinking alcohol on the green was not an arrestable offence and catching them committing an offence was proving difficult.

Along with the ABCs the parish council has paid for a sign to be put in the bowling green which reads "By Order of the parish council: No alcohol to be brought on to the premises". This sign, however, is not legally binding.

The ASBO team, in conjunction with West Yorkshire Police, has also given diaries to those residents who live near the bowling green. These diaries can be used to record any anti-social incidents witnessed.

In a few weeks the diaries will be collected, reviewed and brought to the next meeting at the Willows, on May 6, to decide if further action is required. PC Stothers added that the managers of the Willows were hoping to put other measures in place in a bid to alleviate the problem. "We don't want to just move the problem somewhere else in the village," he said.

Managers at the Willows welcomed phone calls from residents to 01535 657350 if patients were causing a nuisance. Anyone who saw patients breaking the law should contact the police on 0845 6060606, he added.

Ian Watson, of Bradford Council's ASBO team, said that though he had heard of ASBOs being served on two people attending a hospital in Cumbria, he was not aware of any such action against patients in this area He also insisted that managers at the home had assured him that the four patients were fully aware of the implications of the ABCs. "They understand what is happening. They are quite compos mentis," he said.

A spokesman for Craegmoor Healthcare, the organisation responsible for the running of the Willows, said: "The residents' well-being and care provision is our priority. We continue to work with the local agencies to ensure we provide the highest standards of care.

"While we cannot comment about individual cases for reasons of patient confidentiality, we do take the concerns of the local community very seriously."