TALKS are to take place to see if a youth worker might be the answer to groups of youngsters gathering in Pewsey.

Wpc Michelle Haley told the parish council last week that there was a continuing problem of vandalism in Pewsey, especially on Friday disco nights.

Last month eggs and flour were thrown at buildings and vehicles and this month cars have been damaged and had their tyres let down.

Extra officers were drafted in for the last teenage disco on November 14 but searches of youngsters for illegal alcohol proved fruitless.

But Wpc Haley added that the youngsters might have found new places to conceal drinks.

Previously police recovered quantities of spirits from the public lavatories close to the Bouverie Hall where the monthly discos are held. Kennet has co-operated by shutting the conveniences early on disco nights.

Coun Denis Sweasey, chairman of the police consultative group for the Pewsey Vale area, said the question of funding for a youth outreach worker was being considered.

Coun Sweasey said: "The problem is not with the children who go to the youth club but with the ones who don't."

He said it was hoped to employ a youth outreach worker on a three year contract to spend three hours in the village on Friday evenings.

Pewsey area police commander Sgt John Coppen has stated that many of the trouble makers are not from Pewsey but from other villages, who look on Pewsey as a central gathering place.

Sgt Coppen has asked parents of young people who say they are going to the Shak to make sure they do so, rather than hang about in the village.