NEWPORT'S community safety wardens are expected to deal with 50 incidents of anti-social behaviour in the city every day over the next year - a total of 18,000 cases.

New figures in a report released by the council reveal that the number of cases wardens are called to is expected to more than double - from 8,000 to 18,000 - since they were first introduced in 1999.

The problem of tackling anti-social behaviour now takes up almost all of the wardens' workload, with the most dramatic rise being in cases of deliberate and malicious acts of nuisance behaviour, something the council describes as "a very worrying trend".

Richard Winfield, the council's warden manager, said: "The severity of the calls we get has increased and it has got a bit more confrontational.

"The bulk of our work is for street nuisance, such as gangs who are intimidating or harassing people, or cases of joy riding."

In April, ten of the city's 18 wardens were given new powers by Gwent Police chief constable Michael Tonge to tackle anti-social behaviour, allowing them to issue fines for some offences, such as littering and dog fouling, and to take down names and addresses of people involved in nuisance behaviour.

Mr Winfield said that while the powers have helped the wardens, their work has also become more confrontational.

In June a warden was attacked by a youth in the Broadmead Park area of Newport, who beat him with a stick when he was responding to a call.

The teenager, a known offender, received four months' detention for the attack last month.

"Some of the work we do does lead to confrontations," said Mr Winfield. "But we have found the public to be very supportive."

A warden's typical work involves:

* Confiscating alcohol from people drinking in the street in designated areas.

*Taking the names and addresses of people being a nuisance to be used for evidential purposes should any ASBOs be considered.

* Dispersing gangs of youths who are intimidating or harassing people.

Last year the council raised the wardens' salary from £14,000 to £18,500 after suffering a staff turnover of 72 per cent during an 18- month period.

In the last six months just one warden has left, for non-work-related reasons.

Mr Winfield put the expected dramatic rise in incidents down to a number of issues, including the expansion of the warden programme, which is now a city-wide scheme.

"Our aim is to give a high priority to cases of anti-social behaviour so they can be nipped in the bud before they develop into something more serious."

Newport council's overview and scrutiny forum for community safety is considering the findings of the new report.