TOWN councillors have called for CCTV coverage to stop vandalism in Evesham's Abbey Park.

Meeting on Monday, they voted to ask the district council to install a security camera.

Councillor John Smith said: "I accept that the district has spent a lot of money on cameras but I think this one would repay us in a matter of months. I would hope we can get this done and get it done quickly."

Councillors raised concerns about the level of vandalism in the park as they discussed a series of improvements Wychavon plans to make over the next few years.

Plans to turn the park's paddling pool into a bog garden met with an angry reaction from some members.

Councillor Jim Griffiths said: "I do feel we ought to keep it as open water because they are, after all, the monastic fish ponds, which have been there for 1,000 years."

Yet coun Phil Nosworthy retorted: "There's no way you can maintain it as a paddling pool, because it ends up full of broken glass and all sorts of detritus."

He backed the plans and told fellow councillors: "If you don't vote for it, you must be crazy."

Digging out the concrete base of the pool and replacing it with a garden of plants suited to wet conditions as the pool is fed by springs is planned as the first stage of the district's plans but town councillors urged a rethink.

They said Wychavon should leave the paddling pool alone and instead make the refurbishment of the neighbouring boating pool for use by model boats its priority.

Councillor Nosworthy said he feared that vandalism and bad behaviour would only lead to the pools being drained but coun John Stych said: "We are being awfully defeatist."

Members did welcome a proposal from maintenance contractors Fountain Landscapes who have said they will sponsor and meet the costs of a Jubilee border and sculptures on the bank north of the boating pool. They also backed plans to take shrubs away from the war memorial and replace them with a robust poppy mosaic, which the district believes might reduce the vandalism to the war memorial.

Wychavon will make a final decision on the park plans on Tuesday, June 18.