A SENIOR councillor has spoken of his hopes to tackle anti-social behaviour after community leaders agreed to fund thousands of pounds of youth provision in a village.

The Leader reported last week how ‘disrespectful’ youths were believed to have damaged a Brymbo play area and left litter strewn around the village’s war memorial.

North Wales Police have confirmed further callouts over the weekend to Brymbo Sports and Social Complex in College Hill after reports of anti-social behaviour from a large group of youths on Saturday evening.

According to police, the youths spoke of their frustration that there is nothing for them to do in the area, but Brymbo ward councillor Paul Rogers, Wrexham Council’s lead member for youth services, leisure and anti-poverty, told the Leader he hoped this could change thanks to a sum of funding committed by the village’s community council.

Cllr Rogers, community council chairman, said: “The community council are funding four sessions of week for youth provision.

“At the community council meeting last week we agreed to put in further funds towards room hire for activities.

“In total we are putting £16,000 towards the provision for young people, which will fund it until May next year and is a first for the community council.

“Brymbo Community Council is working with Wrexham Council to agree the activities. The community council feels there is a range of activities in the community and I hope this will contribute to that.”

Speaking of the incident on Saturday, Sgt Katie Davies said yesterday: “We responded to calls regarding anti-social behaviour at Brymbo Sports and Social Complex.

“There was a large group of youths who frequent the Brymbo, Brynteg and Bradley areas who are connected through school.

“There were reports of smashed bottles and there was some glass but they were not seen to cause that.

“Officers had to spend a lot of time there trying to move them along. There is frustration from the residents the people who use those facilities but also from the youths saying there is nothing for them to do.

“We’re trying to work with a number of agencies in youth, education and the council to address these issues.

“If there are problems in the community we would urge people to ring their local PCSO or 101.”

A statement posted on the North Wales Police Wrexham Rural Facebook page on the night of the incident also stated: “Some in the group are as young as 12.

“They refused to move from the area meaning we had to stay until they did eventually leave. That’s a lot of police resources used for one incident.

“The youngsters tell us there is nothing to do in the area. If that is how you feel then you need to feed it back to your local councillor.”