District Council calls for witnesses following play park vandalism

Newark and Sherwood District Council officers arrived at Turner Lane play area in Boughton on Tuesday morning, continuing the £350,000 redevelopment of play parks across the district, to find that vandals had smashed down and damaged all the secure fencing surrounding the site. Upon entering the park, the vandals had bent the fencing, threw rubbish everywhere and left.

Councillor Emma Oldham, Portfolio Holder for Biodiversity and Environmental Services at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “In the last week alone there have been multiple horrific incidents of park vandalism, including at Cleveland Square, Riverside Park, Cherry Holt, St Mary’s Hawtonville, Chatham Court and Southfields Balderton. This is not acceptable. These are treasured places for children and families and their thoughtless destruction will not be tolerated. 

“In the past two years thousands of pounds have had to be spent on repairs across the district due to mindless vandalism, and this is your money as a taxpayer. We encourage parents, or anyone who may have information on these recent spates, to step forward and report these vandals. Someone must know something. Someone must have seen something.

“We cannot accept these selfish and inconsiderate acts and we will do all we can to ensure offenders face the consequences of their mindless actions.”

Please help us to protect your parks and report anything you know to the Police on 101 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or at crimestoppers-uk.org.

Councillor Paul Taylor, Portfolio Holder for Public Protection and Community Relations, said: “These mindless acts of vandalism are just another example of Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) that we will not tolerate.  If you know who is doing this to our beautiful parks, please report them.  You can do it anonymously and your information really will help.

“We are working hard to improve safety and security within our district and we will continue to do all we can to reduce ASB and take action against the individuals involved.  Last week an Injunction was served against three teenagers for repeated ASB in Newark Town Centre, we are increasing our own resources by recruiting a new Senior ASB officer and we are continuing to work alongside partners from Nottinghamshire Police and the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner to deliver the Safer Streets Project, through which £1million has already been invested to fund security measures including street lighting, CCTV across a number of town centre locations, security gating and more. Later this month we are holding our second Multi-Agency ASB Summit to collectively look at what more we can do to crack down on these offences and I am committed as ever to keeping our green spaces beautiful and keeping our residents safe.”

The District Council is keen to encourage anyone with any concerns or issues about anti-social behaviour to report them. More information can be found on its website: https://www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/asb/.