AN ASBO-style crackdown on badly behaved tethered horses and donkeys grazing on council land in Southampton has been agreed by the city council.

Animals reported for biting, pushing, kicking or causing other problems will be banned from all council land under threat of being impounded and sold.

It follows reports of injuries to members of the public confronted by the animals on the city's green spaces.

City ecologists warn that the grazing is destroying fragile ecosystems, and there are also health and hygiene fears over horse dung.

Councillor Phil Williams, Cabinet member for neighbourhoods, says he has resisted a zero tolerance approached but would reconsider if the policy was not working.

He agreed to adopt powers allowing designated officers to give owners three days' notice to remove their animals or face having them impounded.

The notice will be staked out next to the animals, which will be photographed.

Owners will have to pay costs of up to £5,000 to reclaim their horses or the council will sell them on the open market after seven days.

Lyn Allen, from the South Hants Pony and Horse Protection Group, welcomed the policy on welfare grounds, as tethering animals restricted their freedom to exercise, find food or water, or to escape from bad weather.

However, she warned that it could be "very expensive" for the council if animals had to be impounded. "People aren't going to buy a skanky old horse that they will have to pay a lot of vet's bills for," she said.

The council says that up to a dozen horses are turned out to illegally graze across the city at any one time. Hotspots include Peartree Green, Weston Shore, Donkey Common, Abbey Hill, Miller's Pond and Sholing Valley. The council says that the animals largely belong to the settled traveller community, which has a tradition of keeping horses dating back hundreds of years.