More than £100,000 is to be spent combating vandalism and anti-social behaviour in Pudsey.

The besieged bowling club has been forced to replace its fence three times in as many years because of severe vandalism.

And the club, based at Pudsey Park on Church Lane, will now install a higher steel fence costing £9,000, which will come from a special anti-crime initiative.

The funds have been provided by Leeds City Council and £7,000 from the same pot will also pay for a replacement surface on the disused railway line footpath between Radcliffe Lane and South Parade.

Youths have been using pebbles from the surface as missiles to throw at residents' windows.

Twenty thousand pounds of the money has been allocated to the Pudsey Community Policing Team budget, which will go towards extra police officers being deployed in the area.

Plans are also in the pipeline to install additional CCTV cameras in the Church Lane, Robin Lane and Lowtown areas of Pudsey in the new year, at a cost of £75,000.

Sergeant Steve Palmer, of Pudsey Community Policing Team, is confident the pro-active measures will serve as a deterrent to youths engaged in anti-social behaviour.

He said: "These are basic practical approaches to crime prevention and we would like to reassure the public in Pudsey that it is not a huge problem.

"It's a nice place to live and this is a case of nipping the problem in the bud. When we have identified who these people are, we will look towards working with youth services in order to divert them away from crime and anti-social behaviour."

Leeds City Councillor Richard Lewis (Lab, Pudsey South) has liaised with Sgt Palmer, the parks department and other councillors to try to solve the problems.

He said: "It's tragic to see this money being spent on preventing anti-social behaviour.

"However, it is necessary and we will continue to work closely with the police to prevent any anti-social behaviour."

Shirley Rhodes, secretary of the bowling club, said: "It will still be very difficult to stop youths getting into the bowling green but we just have to hope this fence puts them off."