THE Level should be the pride of our city.

It is one of our most central parks and has benefited from a fantastic revamp thanks to £2.2 million of Lottery funding.

Most Brightonians will always associate The Level with a certain degree of grungy undertones – but the revamp went a long way to giving the area a facelift.

The new renovated Level – combined with the Open Market and other improvements in London Road have gone a long way to reviving the area.

But the less appealing sights, sounds and smells of the old Level are starting to creep back.

More than one police incident a day is far too many for an area that is a family attraction.

And while some of the calls to police are relatively minor, regular violent crimes, unconscious people and day-time drinking is not something our children should be exposed to.

Brighton and Hove iws a vibrant and tolerant city and we should be careful about advocating excessive policing and snubbing creativity.

But this is also a city with significant problems with rough sleepers and drink and drugs.

These people with nowhere else to go and nothing to do but drink or take drugs need help so that they can move on in life.

And principally we need to keep places like The Level safe for families with children, especially after so much good work and money has gone into improving it.

If we allow this sort of behaviour to continue in an area specifically designed for our children we risk them seeing it as normal and accepting it.

Do we want to tell our kids this is OK?

And just as worrying, teen- agers from all around the Brighton area are often at The Level skate park, close to a drink and drugs culture which their parents want them to avoid.