A former mayor has called for his hometown to be flattened by a "thermonuclear device" because it has become so rundown.

Councillor Dennis Keogh said parts of Port Talbot, South Wales, had become "a ghetto" after a boom in rental properties being used by drug addicts.

He told a council meeting the suburb of Aberavon had become a hotspot for trouble and people who "don't give a damn".

Labour councillor Mr Keogh, who was mayor of Neath Port Talbot until May this year, said: "It's turning into a ghetto. The only way to sort it out is to use a small thermonuclear device to flatten it and start it again.

"I'm Aberavon-born and I still have family living there - it was a beautiful place to live but I wouldn't want to live there now.

"All the trouble is in one place.

"It all centres around rented accommodation - people don't give a damn."

Mr Keogh made his comments during a planning meeting while discussing proposals to transform a home in Aberavon, Port Talbot, into flats.

Plaid Cymru Councillor Nigel Hunt joined the Mr Keogh in calling for the plans to be rejected saying the area was prime ground for County Lines drugs gangs.