A CLEAN-UP group was shocked to find syringes discarded near a Southampton road.

The Green Party’s Katherine Barbour and her team of volunteers found hypodermic needles on Osborne Road South, next to the A335.

The team of community cleaners included friends of the Green Party and students from the University of Southampton, who informed the Greens of rubbish scattered around the area.

Ms Barbour said she was concerned the syringes were in an area where youngsters play.

Joe Cox, a coordinator for the Green Party, said: “One of the youngsters who helped us said there were syringes in the bushes.

“We put them inside Tetra Paks because if we put them in plastic bags then they would have penetrated them.”

He added: “It is like the litter pickers are on strike.”

Ms Barbour said: “There are modern ideas which can encourage drug users to act more responsibly.

“Southampton City Council should trial shooting galleries with the option of crèches if required.”

She added the syringes were on a residential street and “is a place where children can play, since there is a large green area there”.

But city council community wellbeing chief Dave Shields said the council supports what it calls, “drug consumption rooms”. He added that the council will be petitioning central government to change the law so the rooms are legal.

This was brought up at the authority’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel at the end of February.

During the meeting, the council said: “The director of public health for Southampton and Portsmouth Cities, Jason Horsley, has been working closely with colleagues at the National Aids Trust who are campaigning for drug consumption rooms to be legalised."

Katherine added: “Our attempt at bringing about a cleaner city has proved to be a success and we look forward to seeing more helpers at our next clean up in April.”