A COUNCILLOR is demanding the Ladyboys of Bangkok do not ruin the grass in a fiery plea for “civic pride”.

Dawn Barnett, 78, wants the council to assure that Hove Lawns will be put back into “first class condition” following the popular musical production featuring Thai Lady Boys.

She said: “People walk along here with their kids during the summer and the grass is going to be ruined when they do.

“If they don’t reinstate the grass after they’ve gone it’s going to become a mess.

“It will become a dump like the rest of Brighton.”

The Lady Boys of Bangkok normally perform on the grass opposite the King and Queen pub in central Brighton.

But the spot is currently taken by Fringe venue The Warren, so the show has been moved to the far western end of Hove Lawns.

Cllr Barnett fears grass will be “gauged out” and could cause “lasting damage” if not repaired.

She said: “People complain about the state of the city, but people keep ruining it. Let’s get our civic pride back. People need pride in where they live.”

Cllr Barnett is also asking the council take a tougher approach on travellers, beggars and graffiti.

She would like to see the council confiscate the caravans of travellers who leave litter.

They would be given them back once they had cleaned their mess up, under Cllr Barnett’s proposals.

And she believes people who graffiti should be made to scrub off their own and others’ mess if they are caught.

She says the punishment should be applied to the girls who were videoed spraying names on a listed building last month.

Cllr Barnett also said that more should be done to tackle begging in the city.

She said: “It is a disgrace. This all started when we became a protest city. Brighton was once a beautiful city and when I grew up we had lovely clean gardens. There’s no civic pride anymore. We need to stop the begging. To me, alcohol and cigarettes are luxuries.

“But you see people sitting with them trying to tell people they don’t have any money.

“After the war people were hard up but they weren’t sitting begging.

“If you couldn’t afford fags and beer, you would go without.”

Cllr Barnett added that government cuts were no excuse for not tackling the problems as other towns were maintaining their appearances.