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Colne community park trashed by vandals
10:50pm Tuesday 29th April 2008
A FRIENDS group has hit out at vandals who trashed a community' park.
Damage totalling £1,500 was caused at Ballgrove Park, in Colne, some time between 10pm on Friday April 25 and the following morning.
Vandals pulled out the mats underneath the play equipment and threw them around, twisted the swings and pulled the roundabout from its base.
The park, owned by the council and used daily by local youngsters and adults for leisure activities, had a problem with youths drinking on the grounds and harassing users last summer.
Jerry Stanford, chairman of the Friends of Ballgrove park said that joint initiative with the police, which included increased patrols, tackled the problem and the incidents stopped.
Mr Stanford said the group would work closely with the police to tackle the problem.
He said: "We have had an ongoing problem with vandalism last summer. We worked very closely with the police to get rid of the youngsters who were coming into the park drinking and harassing people and making it unpleasant for them.
"The kids were coming from other areas and preventing local youngsters from using the equipment.
"But we managed to knock that on the head.
"We have had no trouble over the winter until a few weeks ago when the toilet doors were broken.
"I am disturbed that youngsters are of the mentality that they have to damage facilities which are used by the community.
"We will work together with the police to identify the youngsters who are doing this and take the issue up with the parents."
Community beat manager Mark Whitehead urged anyone with information to com forward to the police.
He said: "If anyone has heard any rumours or know anything about the attack please contact use.
"We will prosecute anyone who behaves like this.
"We will not tolerate this type of behaviour."
Anyone with information should contact Colne police on 01282 472485 or CBM Whitehead 07903306281
Your Say YourTelegraph
Burnley Taxpayer, Burnley says...
10:54am Thu 1 May 08
Parents - make sure you know where your children are.
Barbara, Burnley says...
3:13pm Wed 30 Apr 08
carry on though dont stop now i said well done
dorothy lord, colne says...
2:44pm Wed 30 Apr 08
Older youths outside the school with what we thougt was booze.70 odd small vodaka bottles found in the area,empty of course.Is this when vandalism happens,when these kids are high on spirits.
Friends of Ball grove must be very upset,a lot of hards work goes on in this area and most of it by volunteers,as with many other parks in Pendle.We will continue to work with the police and schools to try and resolve this issue before it becomes completley out of control.
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BEFORE: Where the roundabout used to stand before it was trashed
AFTER: Where a piece was ripped up
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amy, colne says...
9:38pm Thu 15 May 08
as whinging for nothing to do, its true. if there were something fun for the kids to do which was known to them then they would use the facilities.