Staff at an adventure playground are cleaning up after drug addicts who leave needles near the popular amenity.

Jill McCleery, who runs the Whitehouse Road playground, in south Oxford, said before the children arrive she and her team often collect discarded syringes which have been thrown over from in a nearby lane.

Mrs McCleery said the problem stemmed from drug dealers and addicts in nearby Grandpont Park, off Whitehouse Road, and the alleyway which runs alongside.

The park is close to several sites used by children, including Grandpont Nursery School and St Ebbe's First School.

Mrs McCleery said: "We have to check the playground for needles daily. I'm increasingly concerned about the safety of everyone in the area."

"To have so much dealing in an area like this is crazy. Children have a right to play freely."

St Ebbe's School governor Jan Treacher, of Western Road, said drug activity in the park and lane was putting children's lives at risk.

She is calling for CCTV cameras to be installed in the area.

She said: "We have been very badly affected by the drug dealing in the park. We would like the council to put pressure on the police to do more. The problem is bad and it seems to be getting worse."

The city council's leisure and parks operations manager Ian Sheppard said cutting back trees would open the area up.

He also suggested putting a gate at the end of an alleyway which borders the playground and the park.

He added: "I could speak to the cleansing department about putting in sharps bins."

City councillor Bob Price, who represents Hinksey Park, said drug dealing and antisocial behaviour in the park was a long-standing problem.

Mr Price said: "I think a barrier would make some difference as it would stop drug dealers going down to the end of the lane. It would also stop rubbish being dumped there."

Insp Martin Flint, of Oxford police, said: "We will do what we can to reduce it."

In April the Oxford Mail reported that anti-social behaviour and drug dealing in Grandpont Park was making it a virtual no-go area.

Brian Gordon, who lives near the park in Buckingham Street, said: "This is an accident waiting to happen."