A COUNTRY park is likely to be closed off to vehicles due to fly-tippers using the beauty spot to dump waste including asbestos, and the area being plagued by anti-social behaviour.

One regular user of the park said they no longer felt comfortable visiting with their grandson after spotting used needles and tubes of ‘man lube’ during a recent visit.

The issue of fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour in Horton Bank Country Park, off Great Horton Road, was first discussed by Bradford Council last year.

The Bradford South Area Committee had raised the possibility of closing the park to traffic as a way of tackling “unsocial” activities. They heard that fly-tipping was costing the council thousands of pounds a year to clean up, and that “the car park is also an area where unsocial activities are commonplace during both daylight and nighttime hours”.

Tomorrow the subject will come back to the committee, when members will be urged to agree to the park being closed to traffic. A new report reveals that in the past 12 months the council has spent £1,840 clearing dumped waste from the park.

There were six separate incidents of fly-tipping, with rubbish dumped including asbestos, household waste and rubble.

The council produced a survey for park users to answer to gauge the extent of the issue. Despite 150 physical surveys being handed out, and the survey being available online, just 11 people took part in the poll. Of those that did respond, 73 per cent said they were aware of the fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour, and 36 per cent said they had witnessed such incidents happening.

One of the park users who responded to the survey said: “No way can I take my young grandson there to feed the ducks.

“Needles, ‘man Lube’ tubes, substances passed from car to car, sexual activity in daylight. I used to go two or three times a week, now I rarely go.”

Although the gates are likely to be closed to traffic, the park will still be accessible to pedestrians.

The committee, consisting of councillors from the Bradford South constituency, will hear that there was no budget to install CCTV at the park, and opening and closing the gates at the start and end of each day would also prove too costly.

The report says doing nothing was not an option, adding: “This option is not sustainable in the long term and the survey feedback did acknowledge that the highlighted issues are causing concern for visitors.”

When the Telegraph & Argus visited the park we found a number of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) canisters in the car park.

The committee meets in City Hall at 5pm on Thursday, June 28.