District Council reaches out to residents to help stop vandalism at Sconce and Devon Park

Over the early May Bank Holiday weekend the park was subject to a spate of vandalism including a number of fences being damaged, damage to a tree in the new community orchard and multiple occurrences of individuals riding horse traps across the park.

Councillor Paul Taylor, Portfolio Holder for Public Protection and Community Relations, said: “We cannot tolerate behaviour such as this, and we must work together as a community to deter and identify culprits who blatantly disregard our district. If you know anything about who has been involved in these incidents, please report them. You can do it anonymously and your information could be really useful in our investigations.

“We are working extremely hard to improve safety and security within our district and we will continue to do all we can to reduce anti-social behaviour (ASB) and take action against offenders. We are committed to a hard-hitting program of measures to achieve this, including holding our third Multi-Agency ASB Summit, where partners from across our district are coming together to collectively look at what more we can do to crack down on offences such as this recent spate of vandalism.

“We cannot accept these selfish and inconsiderate acts and I am committed as ever to keeping our parks and green spaces safe for our residents.”

Councillor Emma Oldham, Portfolio Holder for Biodiversity and Environmental Services at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “Sconce and Devon is a beautiful and treasured place for residents and visitors to enjoy. So much effort goes into keeping this park a safe and welcoming place, from the work of our Park Rangers and Street Scene Team, to our dedicated volunteers who regularly give up their time to help improve and maintain the park.

“The vandalism from over the Bank Holiday not only affects resident and visitors enjoyment of the park but it also causes harm to the nature and wildlife Sconce and Devon is home to, and to see it being thoughtlessly damaged is extremely disheartening.

“These repeated cases of vandalism are not acceptable, and I encourage anyone with information that could help us hold the perpetrators accountable to please get in touch.”

Inspector Charlotte Ellam, District Commander for Newark and Sherwood, said: “We are aware of reports of vandalism and antisocial behaviour taking place in Sconce and Devon Park over the recent Bank Holiday weekend.

“It really should go without saying, but this type of behaviour is unacceptable and we are working alongside Newark and Sherwood District Council to identify those responsible.

“Tackling antisocial behaviour (ASB) has been a neighbourhood policing priority for our area for some time now because we fully understand how much of an impact it can have on communities.

“Conducting visible police patrols of hotspot areas known to have been impacted by ASB is just one of the tactics we use to try and crackdown on this offending.

“Bearing this in mind, we will be increasing patrols of the Sconce and Devon Park area, to provide some reassurance to the public, and we would ask them to continue reporting offences to us via 101.”

We encourage anyone who may have information on these recent spates to please help us protect our parks and report anything you know to the District Council at www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/asb , to the Police on 101 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or at crimestoppers-uk.org.