Alleyways notorious for flytipping and being used as boltholes for vandals could be cleaned up by giving them names, according to a councillor.

Alleyways in Bicester have been plagued by problems with litter and antisocial behaviour, as well as becoming notorious as escape routes for youths fleeing from the police.

It is a problem shared with the Blackbird Leys estate in Oxford, where the city council has decided to close an alleyway blighted by drug dealing, at a cost of £6,100.

However, in Bicester, some of the alleyways have been named in a bid to turn their bad reputations around. Town councillor John Cozens said: "We have been having a lot of trouble in the Keble Road playing field. The alleyways are boltholes for people running away from the police.

"If the police come, they can't catch them. It's impossible for the police to cover all of them."

Signs have been unveiled displaying the new names -- the alleyway from Churchill Road to the railway line is now Town Walk East, from the railway line to Longfields Road is Town Walk West and from Keble Road to Buckingham Road is Town Walk North.

Mr Cozens chose the names himself -- he first thought about naming the alleyways after his dog Tinkerbell but finally settled on Town Walk.

He said: "It's a town walk, because everyone uses it to walk to town. If you want to direct someone there it's easy now.

"People fly tip there at the moment, but if you make it look respectable, people will recognise it and treat it with respect."

This is just the first in a series of projects aimed at improving the alleyways.

Mr Cozens hopes the signs scheme will be followed by landscaping around the alleyways next to Murdock Road and Hertford Road, with benches, a barbecue area and litter bins.

He is also working with crime reduction officer David Campbell to close off some of the alleyways with steel gates, to stop people using them as boltholes, which he hopes will be implemented in the next couple of years.

Mr Cozens said: "I think people will now refer to them by name rather than as alleyways. It's about people having a pride in their town."

Douglas Peverill, who lives in Duxford Close, uses the alleyways regularly.

He said they had a bad reputation, but he did not think the signs would make much difference.

He said: "The footpath has really been good, but I can't see the point in signs -- we know where Bicester is, we don't need telling. In time they will only get vandalised."

The problem of flytipping in Blackbird Leys should be tackled by a squad of New York-style litter enforcement officers, according to Bob Avery, the vice chairman of Blackbird Leys Parish Council.

The area has been plagued by residents dumping rubbish such as food, mattresses and paint pots in streets and alleyways. Mr Avery wants to see zero tolerance for dumping rubbish.