WORK is to be carried out to help reduce anti-social behaviour and crime in a Keighley park.

Plans to demolish a disused bowling pavilion in Devonshire Park have been approved.

Bradford Council says the aim is to make the park “less attractive to congregations of undesirable users”.

Devonshire Park, which was opened to the public in 1888, lies within a Conservation Area.

But in recent years the site has become a magnet for anti-social behaviour and drug dealing, much of which is centred around the old bowling pavilion and green.

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

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

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

“This pavilion 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.”