FURIOUS councillors have launched an inquiry after thousands of discarded drug needles were found in Southampton parks.

The inquiry was called by the city council’s Scrutiny and Inquiry Panel after Community Safety officers discovered more than 7,000 needles in the city in the 12 months to March 2017.

The council estimated that more than 1,500 people in Southampton use opiates and crack cocaine and more than 600 inject drugs.

Conservative Cllr Jeremy Moulton, vice-chair of the panel, said: “Southampton has a shockingly high number of drug users so we need to look at what can be done to get that number down.

“We will have a number of meetings with a number of key players in the city to be able to do this, it’s a public health issue.

“The primary focus is to ensure that members of the public remain safe when using our open spaces and ensure our council workers remain safe when they collect needles.”

Coxford Councillor Don Thomas, from the Putting People First Group, said: “There should be somewhere for people taking these drugs to be able to go safety, it is a big problem in Southampton and something needs to be done about it.”

Councillor Jacqui Rayment, portfolio holder for the environment, said: “We need to ensure that Southampton remains a safe city and we will work with partner agencies to do what we can with individuals in crisis or with drug dependency so I welcome the inquiry to help us establish the scale of the problem.”

It follows news in February that City Council workers had found discarded needles in Southampton car parks in places where they could cause injuries member of the public including some lodged in the lift buttons.

Councillors will launch the inquiry next month where they will summon representatives from Public Health and NHS Support Services, Hampshire Constabulary and residents groups to ask what can be done to identify what is working well and what can be done to curb the issue of drug related litter with final recommendations expected to be put forward to cabinet in December.