A mother fears children and pets could be harmed after rat poison was laid in a busy park following an outbreak of vermin.

Denise Friend, of Hythe Road, Brighton, spotted the poison being put down after noticing a footpath near the cricket pitch in Preston Park was shut as she walked her dog.

She is concerned that youngsters could be poisoned and dogs and cats harmed.

She said: "I have been using the park for years and I have never seen a rat. I am worried about the environment and children, as well as the idea of poison lying around.

But Denise, who walks her lurcher, Rolf, in the park twice a day, wants the council to look at keeping the park clean to keep the rats away.

She said: "I wouldn't take my child down that path because of the state of it.

"Surely there must be other methods of removing the problem of mess or getting dog owners to pick it up, instead of laying poison to kill off the rats that are attracted?"

But a spokesman for Brighton and Hove Council said the poison they had laid was in special tamper-proof boxes which would only let rats in.

Warning signs near the path tells park users there is an antidote to the poison.

A council spokesman said: "There is an antidote to cover ourselves completely but it is highly unlikely that any person or animal could get access to the poison."

The traps on the footpath, off Preston Drove, are padlocked to trees and posts to stop people picking them up.

Carcasses left in the boxes will regularly be collected by pest control officers.

A council spokesman said: "We were informed by the park inspector that people had spotted rats near the footpath.

"We went to have a look and found evidence of rats in shrubs on either side of the footpath."

The council said dog mess left on the path, which could be fenced off for up to four weeks, had contributed to the rat problem.