Capital of sleaze and vulgarity?

Have the hen and stag parties who invade the town turned Blackpool into the seaside capital of sleaze and vulgarity?

Are its visitors just drunken, debauched yobs? Are its streets filthy with litter?

These were the controversial questions posed this week by a national newspaper article on the day that tourism minister Janet Anderson came to town to launch a four-point plan to save Britain's coastal resorts.

The Citizen has done its own investigation and the sad conclusion we have come to is that ALL the criticisms are justified.

We found:

Girls lifting up their tops and exposing their breasts.

Missiles being thrown at passers-by.

Urinating in the street.

Litter-strewn pavements.

Drinking in the streets.

Vulgar souvenirs on sale.

Not all the blame can lie with the town and its people. And, on taking a trip along the seafront, it becomes all too clear who is responsible.

A gang of men drinking lager from bottles walked past. Another man urinated against a shop front and, worst of all, a picture of two women baring their breasts for the camera as they rode on a Pleasure Beach ride, was on show on a TV screen for children to see.

Michael Kitching has been a doorman for 27 years and has worked in Lancaster and Preston as well as Blackpool. He said: "Blackpool is similar to other places as regards violence on the doors but the behaviour of the holidaymakers is a lot worse than you would see in any other town. I am sure they don't behave like this in their home towns," he added.

"I don't know why but when they go out in Blackpool they behave in a terribly uncouth way, dropping their trousers and shouting obscenities to passers-by. "As a doorman you try and be as diplomatic as possible but some people turn really nasty after a drink and now there is all-day drinking you find they drink all day and all night without even stopping for a meal."

Wayne Boyes, a taxi driver in the resort, said: "Blackpool tends to be an 'anything goes' town where bad behaviour has become acceptable.

"Bad behaviour attracts more bad behaviour and the same goes for litter and graffiti and that is what is happening in this town. It's had a snowball effect.

"The family element seems to have gone completely and it will be difficult to get it back. The law needs to be enforced. People should not be allowed to behave in this way and get away with it," he said.

A spokesperson for the council's cleansing department said cleaning the streets was a very difficult task when the town is full with visitors. Motorised cleaners could not be used on pavements and manual cleaning was too slow.

The bins in Blackpool are specially designed to hold more rubbish and they were emptied five times a day but, no matter what provision was made, demand would always exceed provision.

Leader of Blackpool Council George Bancroft agreed something needed to be done to clean up the town's image. He said he was meeting with the Chief Executive, the police, the tourism department and trading standards officials to try and devise a plan to eradicate the yobbish element.

"There are two cultures forming. There are mid-week visitors and the weekend element where the whole atmosphere seems to change," he said.

"We are going to investigate with trading standards into the legality of these vulgar souvenirs.

"We are looking into the law as far as behaviour goes to suggest ways in which we can enforce the law more efficiently.

"If zero tolerence is what it takes then we will go for it," he said.

Tourism minister Janet Anderson this week said decisive action must be taken to rescue resorts like Blackpool.

She revealed a four-point plan to regenerate the town, which includes:

The English Tourist Council investigating what holidaymakers want from UK resorts.

Appointing lottery grant distributors to consider how to improve current low levels of funding.

European funding to support bids of regeneration

Plus a push on e-tourism.

WHAT do YOU think about the state of Blackpool? What would you do to improve its image? Write to the Editor, St Annes Buildings, Clifton Drive North, St Annes FY8 2NA or e-mail astuttar@lancashire.newsquest.co.uk