A HEAD teacher has moved to reassure parents after a report of hypodermic needles being found in the grounds of Haworth Primary School.

Members of Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council were informed of this at their latest full meeting, when one councillor updated them on the outcome of a recent, separate meeting in the village to discuss anti-social behaviour.

Responding, Haworth Primary head Helen Thompson said the needles find had been an isolated case, adding that the school has a site manager who lives on the premises and checks the grounds each day to ensure nothing harmful is left there.

"We're fortunate enough to have a site manager who is incredibly committed," she said.

"We also liaise with the Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and they come and do regular spot checks.

"There is a massive area at the back of our school which runs down a slope and includes a wooded area.

"We've also had some bits of broken glass on this land before, but when there have been any increases in anti-social behaviour we've reported it to the relevant authorities.

"The PCSOs have been doing as much as they can to help, even though they do have a big area to cover."

The update to the parish council was delivered by Cllr Trudy Mahon, who attended the earlier meeting on anti-social behaviour with two other parish councillors.

The same event had also included representatives from schools, the police and Haworth Central Park.

Cllr Mahon said: "It was a very positive meeting. The police know who the main ringleaders responsible (for the anti-social behaviour) are and it's a case of intelligence gathering at the moment.

"Those responsible are part of the same group that's moving between Haworth and Cross Roads. It includes individuals from Keighley.

"It is important that people report any problems when they happen."

Cllr Tito Arana stressed that people witnessing criminal incidents should be immediately informing police, rather than posting their reaction on social media first.

Cllr Andy Longden said he was concerned about a lack of reporting of low level crime.

"It's clear that crime is being under recorded," he warned. "In particular, people are not reporting things like anti-social behaviour and vehicle crime."

Council chairman Cllr Gary Swallow noted that when Cllr David Mahon called the non-emergency 101 number about an incident, it took him 20 minutes to get through to a call handler.

"There's no doubt that this is not satisfactory," Cllr Swallow said. "I know police resources are limited, but this situation doesn't help with trying to get crimes solved."

Parish councillors also received a police report on recorded crimes in Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury since the previous full council meeting on May 24.

This listed five cases of burglary at domestic and commercial buildings, three thefts of vehicles, three thefts from vehicles, two thefts of other items and one case of a vehicle being interfered with.