POLICE will review security for next year's May Day bank holiday weekend in Ilkley after "unprecedented" scenes of mayhem.

Although the carnival itself and the town's involvement in the Tour de Yorkshire were both trouble free, the weekend was marred by violence and disorder.

At one point officers were faced with 100 people with bottles of drink causing "absolute mayhem", according to Insp Khalid Khan who leads the Keighley Neighbourhood Policing Team.

He told Ilkley Parish Council: "It was something unprecedented - it was something we didn't expect."

He added: "Unfortunately on Saturday the fair and the area around the fair attracted a large number of youngsters from different parts of Bradford."

Police had to draft in extra officers from other areas and they ensured they had additional resources for the following day.

But although youths had to be dispersed from around the fairground Insp Khan stressed the fair itself was not to blame. He described Marshalls Amusements as "very responsive" when trouble broke out and said: "I will give credit where it is due."

He told the meeting the disorder and other issues were not necessarily to do with the fair but were predominantly because of the hot weather.

He told the meeting police would now have to seriously look at how next year's bank holiday weekend around carnival time would be resourced.

The fair was also defended by Ilkley Carnival Chairman Andrew Stacey, who told councillors they had received only three complaints about Marshalls Amusements from an estimated 10,000 people attending the event.

He stressed there was no spike in crime in May when the fair took place, and that May last year had the lowest crime rate of any month.

He highlighted the financial role played by Marshalls in ensuring the continuation of the carnival, and its ability to donate money to good causes.

"Put simply, without Marshalls fun fair there would be no Ilkley Carnival - it's as simple as that."

He added: "If we lost the fair, in a good year we would reduce our profit from £15,000 to £5,000. In a bad year we would make a loss."

Last week Cllr Martin Smith claimed the fairground has been growing in noise, nuisance and vandalism over the last few years, and he said he would be writing to Bradford Council asking them to review future arrangements for it.

This week he said he had received correspondence from people who were concerned about the fair. But he told the parish council meeting he had subsequently found the problems were not down to the fairground - and he said he would now withdraw the letter.