A BRADFORD on Avon man has complained to Wiltshire County Council over its policy of replacing the benches in the country park with backless ones.

Gavin Douglas, of St Margaret's Street, has written to country park ranger Leo Wirtz also complaining that council workers cut down a large area of blackberry bushes and burnt them too.

He said: "There seems to be a County Hall policy of replacing the old benches, which had backs to them, with small backless stools.

"People of all ages must be able to rest their backs. If they can't they're not resting."

He said the new benches are uncomfortable and the old ones had memorials on them too.

But Mr Wirtz said the move was prompted by persistent anti-social behaviour in the park last year and was designed to stop people spending hours sitting on them.

He said the benches were removed with the permission of the town's Preservation Trust, as the benches commemorated two of their past members, the police and the town council.

The blackberry bushes were also removed to discourage people from loitering there. He added: "Mr Douglas is the only person to have complained to us about this."