RESIDENTS in Woodbridge have demanded action to stop drunks and vandals giving the town a bad name.They want more policeman patrolling at night and are also worried about parking according to a community survey.

RESIDENTS in Woodbridge have demanded action to stop drunks and vandals giving the town a bad name.

They want more policeman patrolling at night and are also worried about parking according to a community survey. Woodbridge Town Council will now discuss the results with the police's Safer Neighbourhood Team and the district council.

But the input by residents in the town was less than the town council had hoped for.

The survey was completed by 145 people out of a population of several thousand. Respondents had to either hand in the completed survey to the Shire Hall or the police station and the council said better results could have been achieved by giving them a paid-for envelope.

The other drawback of the survey was that it was predominately filled in by householders aged 65 and above, and there were not enough contributions by younger people.

Chris Walker, town council clerk, said: ''Most people are fairly confident that the police do understand the local issues and that they deal effectively with them.

''But people being drunk and rowdy in public places is a fairly big problem for 36 of the people who replied. We found that rubbish, speeding motorists, young people hanging around the streets, parking, vandalism, graffiti and damage are very big or fairly big problems for many people.

''Drug dealing was only a problem for a small number of people but nevertheless they felt it is a very big problem. However, most people do feel safe in the town.''

A total of 90 people were confident that police officers understood local issues and 78 were confident that they would be able to deal effectively with the issues.