WORKS to make a district park “less attractive to congregations of undesirable users” have been approved.

Devonshire Park in Keighley town centre lies within a Conservation Area, and was first opened to the public in 1888.

But in recent years the park has become a magnet for anti-social behaviour and drug dealing, much of which is centred around the park’s disused bowls pavilion and green.

Bradford Council, which runs the park has recently submitted plans to demolish the pavilion in a bid to open a secluded area of the park up.

The application has now been approved.

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Material from the demolished pavilion will be used for the re-grading of the slopes around the bowling green, before the land is grassed over.

Planning officers said: “The works are intended to open the area up and make it less attractive to congregations of undesirable users.

“This building makes no appreciable contribution to the significance of Devonshire Park.

"Demolition will not adversely affect the character or appearance of the Conservation Area.

"The benefits of its removal outweigh any harm to heritage assets, judged to be extremely modest or non-existent.”

In recent years there have been reports of visitors to the park discovering needles, and a number of people have been given sentences for possession of drugs with intention to supply at the site.