The Hague city council has drafted in lawyers in an effort to reduce the number of Pokémon Go players in the Kijkduin dune area.

Last month the city crowned Kijkduin ‘Pokémon capital of the Netherlands’ but now officials say the hundreds of players are damaging the fragile nature reserve and causing major problems for residents in the seaside resort.

The city now hopes that the threat of court action will persuade game maker Niantic Labs to remove all the Pokémon from the reserve.

‘These are protected areas and should remain so,’ spokesman Gérald Rensink told the Volkskrant. ‘The game developer should not encourage people to walk through the area. We have made an urgent request to Niantic Labs to switch off the coordinates which cover the protected space.’

Lawyers say another option would be to introduce a ban on large groups gathering in Kijkduin.