A REPORT suggests Redditch has the highest cost per capita when it comes to caring for its parks and green areas compared to similar authorities.

But the report for councillors also notes that these leisure areas generate one of the lowest incomes compared to expenditure on them.

The figures appear in an interim report from a council landscape and countryside working group which is looking at formulating ideas to improve these spaces.

Other environmental areas being looked at include allotments, trees and woodlands, sports pitches and the town centre.

The report also noted that visits to Arrow Valley Country Park had increased by 8.6 per cent since 1999.

However the number of people using Morton Stanley Park and other open spaces across town had dropped by 5.2 per cent and 4.6 per cent respectively.

The need to generate more income from Redditch's many green areas is one of the issues which former Council Leader Gavin Smithers has been particularly outspoken about in the past.

At an executive committee meeting last week, Mr Smithers repeated his call for urgent consultation with the public on what they would like to see done with green areas.

"We could identify some real opportunities and increase income and hopefully the level of interest in these areas," he said.