Police have urged councillors in Watton to work with them in a bid to crack down on rowdy behaviour following an increase in crime.Inspector Ady Porter said officers dealt with 19 incidents of antisocial behaviour in town in the last month.

Police have urged councillors in Watton to work with them in a bid to crack down on rowdy behaviour following an increase in crime.

Inspector Ady Porter said officers dealt with 19 incidents of antisocial behaviour in town in the last month.

Speaking at the town council meeting, he blamed the increase on the closure of the town's youth club whose aim was to take youngsters off the streets.

A row erupted following the news and councillors insisted they had not been made aware of the closure.

“The council lets out the youth centre free of charge to Norfolk County Youth Services who run a youth club there every Monday evening,” said Jacqui Seal, town clerk.

“As we do not invoice them, we do not keep any tabs on their activities. However, it would have been helpful if they had told us they were going to close the youth club, so we could let the property to someone else,” she added.

A spokesman for Norfolk County Council said Watton Youth Club had been closed temporarily after a youth worker went to a new role elsewhere in the county. The council hoped to appoint a replacement in the very near future and, once this happened, it would look to reopen the club.