York's police chief today urged parents to take responsibility for their children to help tackle the problem of so-called "nuisance" youths.

And Superintendent Gary Barnett called for better leisure provision for youngsters in the city.

In an interview with the Evening Press, Supt Barnett said that calls to the police from members of the public about gangs of youths standing around on street corners were a drain on police resources.

And the youngsters were rarely actually committing crimes, he said.

"We have got to do something in York to help ourselves resolve this problem of two different generations rubbing up against each other," said Supt Barnett.

He said police often found themselves "piggy in the middle".

"We have to try to balance the rights of young people with the rights of residents, without being heavy-handed, but also without being seen not to be taking any action."

Supt Barnett called on parents to play their part in keeping their youngsters from becoming a problem for others.

"The real solution to this problem is for parents to accept responsibility for their own children," he said.

"They should be aware of where their children are and the activities they are taking part in.

"Most parents would recognise that having a group of 60 children outside their house would worry them, but equally, these kids have their own parents who are condoning these activities which affect someone else."

Supt Barnett said that every evening of the week, police took a large number of calls from the public about "nuisance" youths, but that very few concerned real crimes.

A recent analysis of calls to the police revealed that of 150 calls taken, only three related to substantive crimes.

Officers did not have the authority to take action if young people were merely hanging around "being kids", said Supt Barnett.

A spokesman for City of York Council said the council provided a wide range of events for youngsters and said its efforts to secure a new city centre skateboarding facility in Foss Bank car park had been well publicised.

"Our latest major commitment to helping young people in the city will be revealed next week," he said.