A CLOSED swimming pool has become a hotspot for rough sleeping and drug-dealing, according to residents.

Locals claim they have seen dumped needles, alcohol cans and sleeping bags at the Sansome Walk site, in Worcester, in recent weeks.

They also said homeless people sleep outside the building and in a sheltered alleyway next to the pool.

A Worcester News reporter spotted police pursuing three men down the alleyway yesterday.

PCSO Brahim Faci, who works in the Arboretum area, said: “It’s a hotspot area which we police and patrol.

“If we see a car parked outside the swimming pool we check it to make sure nothing dodgy is happening.

“We can’t be there all the time and we rely on the public to call us.

“People gather there. I came across one person sleeping on the grass, about four weeks ago.”

He added that there was drug dealing at the site, although he could not find any reports from the last few months.

The PCSO, who visits the complex almost every day, also said he had not seen any other rough sleepers in the last four weeks.

However, a postman claimed there was man asleep on a bench by the pool last week.

One local said homeless people started sleeping at the site this summer.

He said: “I feel sorry for them. We are all a couple of paychecks away from being homeless.

“There was a tent there a few weeks ago. I’ve seen people sleeping on the grass there in the morning.

“Since the pool shut down, I’ve also found beer cans, needles, food and sleeping bags. It’s a terrible situation.”

One resident, in Sansome Walk, said dealers had been selling drugs at the layby in front of the pool for years.

They added: “You will see people hanging around and then a car appears.

“You see small things change hands, like they are having a handshake. I’ve spoken to the police about it. It happens during the day, not just at night.

“The trouble is trying to remember the registration [of the cars]. I think it’s more noticeable now the pool has closed.

“You don’t see so many people going up and down to the swimming pool so you notice it more.”

Another resident said homeless people sleep in the sheltered section of the alleyway beside the pool.

He added: “When it’s raining outside they hide here.

“They drink and sometimes they speak very loudly. All the time you can smell weed from there.”

One local said there was a ‘camp fire’ at the site three weeks ago.

The pool shut in December 2016 and is due to be demolished to make way for housing.