Fears over Leeds Cross Flatts Park pellet gun attacks - councillor

Cross Flatts Park in Beeston, Leeds, is spread across 44 acres of land

Teenagers armed with pellet guns are terrorising people trying to enjoy a Leeds park, a meeting has heard.

Councillor Gohar Almass said youths were intimidating residents by firing the guns in Beeston's Cross Flatts Park on a "regular" basis.

At a council-run community meeting, Mr Almass said: "Young kids have these guns and go across parks like Cross Flatts Park firing at people."

A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said park patrols had been increased.

'Feeling intimidated'

Mr Almass told the community committee meeting on Wednesday that the pellet guns "fire like machine guns" .

The incidents involving the weapons were now happening "very regularly", he added.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the Labour councillor, who represents the Beeston and Holbeck ward, warned: "They're pellets, but if they hit you in the eye it would probably damage your eye.

"The elderly and young families in the area are feeling really intimidated."

He told the meeting that people in the area did not "feel safe at the moment" and called for a greater police presence in the park.

'Gel-based projectiles'

Meanwhile, Labour councillor Mohammed Iqbal, who represents the Hunslet and Riverside ward, said "We need to tell the public they must report incidents.

"Then we will get the statistics and the information. Then the police can do something about it."

The committee also heard Cross Flatts Park suffered from large numbers of quad bike riders behaving anti-socially.

Insp Mark Lund, from West Yorkshire Police, said following reports of "gel-based projectiles" being fired in Cross Flatts Park, police patrols had been increased in the area.

"We urge the public to report instances of this on the 101 number, or by using the online facility on the West Yorkshire Police website," he said.