MILLIONS of pounds are being soaked up every year by people behaving badly in Lancaster and Morecambe.

There are some 217 incidents of anti-social behaviour every day in the area, costing the taxpayer £10,250,000 in a year.

The figures have been revealed after a consultation carried out by the Lancaster District community safety partnership in response to a surge of anti-social activity.

More than 5,330 residents responded to a poll in September, which was run in partnership with the Citizen and also included a 'walk-about' by senior police and council figures.

It revealed that adults were mainly concerned about rubbish and litter but young people put criminal damage at the top of their hate list.

"We do not have a separate budget for anti-social behaviour and so when it occurs we have got to spend money fixing or tidying up from the normal budget," says Paul Cocker, the council's operations manager for grounds and maintenance.

"If there are lots of instances of anti-social behaviour then there is going to be less money to spend on things like planting flowers and making the area look nice."

As well as the high costs, bad behaviour also affects the quality of life of others, says the police's Sgt Mike Charlton, who co-ordinated the survey.

"This is the main reason why we should be dealing with anti-social behaviour now. I imagine that other areas have worse problems than we do, but it does not mean it is any less significant," he says.

The partnership was surprised that intimidation and drug misuse was a high concern for youngsters but not older people.

"Many people think kids are responsible for all criminal damage, but it goes to prove that the kids are also the victims of it," says Sgt Charlton.

He thinks litter is at the top of the 'hate' list for adults because it affects most people.

Residents will have to wait until January before finding out how the problems will be tackled, but the team wants the community to play a role in the process, which Sgt Charlton says will largely be a matter of 'education and encouragement'.

But he adds: "As far as litter is concerned we will try to educate, but there will always be people who still refuse to listen - and I think that in those situations we will need to have some sort of law enforcement."

By putting a strategy and targets in place by January to tackle each problem, the partnership hopes local people will have an improved quality of life.