Sex workers on a street in High Wycombe have been able to get help thanks to a successful new project – amid claims problems in the area are “getting out of control”.

There have been a string of complaints over the years about drug use and prostitutes in the Desborough Road area of the town.

In June 2018, Cllr Maz Hussain said there were “10 to 15 prostitutes on every corner” and drugs were being sold “openly”.

The issue was highlighted more than two years ago when councillors claimed police were not doing enough to stop it.

And this week, Cllr Alan Hill said he feared the situation was “out of control”.

At a meeting of the improvement and review commission at Wycombe District Council (WDC) on Wednesday night, he said: “There is a new scam down there where young girls will come up to you and say ‘excuse me mister, can you give me £5 to get on the train’. They are quite open about it. I had my wife with me both times this has happened.

“It seems to be getting out of control down there.”

But a project was launched at the end of 2018 called the Desborough Road Outreach Project (DROP) to provide safeguarding and health support to sex workers in the area which has apparently seen huge success.

Sarah McBrearty, an officer at WDC, said the project has been successful, with two sessions held every month.

So far, one female sex worker has been rehoused through the project, which involves a number of organisations including the Terrence Higgins Trust, One Recovery Bucks and Barnardo’s.

She said: “It is a multi-agency project that works at engaging the sex workers in the Desborough Road area.

“Obviously we have the enforcement that Thames Valley Police can do but what you have to think about is these young women are very vulnerable to assault and sexual assault and what we are wanting to do is safeguard them and work with them to get them out of their drug and alcohol habits and look at their health because it is shocking.”