Vandalism and antisocial behaviour Pavilion, play park and field

Once again the Parish Council attempts to get the play park opened for the children of the village and to carry out work to improve facilities and resolve flooding issues are being thwarted by acts of vandalism and threatening antisocial behaviour by a few young adults and older children who are clearly resident in the village. In addition a large amount of dog faeces has been found in the area between the play park and allotments and this is completely unacceptable. There is no excuse for expecting the Parish Council to clear this up and we assume that this is adult antisocial behaviour – so clearly we have a problem in the village.

Despite our repeated instructions that the Park is closed, large amounts of broken glass are being regularly left in the Mepal Play Park and we are having to use all of the hours available to us to simply try to tidy the mess left by this vandalism and littering and cannot complete any other work. It is not safe now to use the Play Park at all and it will need to remain closed for the foreseeable future. Whilst this behaviour continues we are unable to open the park at all as it is not safe for children to play in areas with broken glass, and continued vandalism and littering may lead to permanent closure. Understand that it is the behaviour of some children and young adults in the village that is keeping the park closed and impacting on the younger children’s enjoyment of what should be a lovely amenity.

We have also had to contact the police today after an unpleasant incident with youths climbing on top of the storage container smoking and threatening Parish Council Staff when asked for their own safety to leave. From now on all such acts and behaviour will be immediately reported to the police.

We need you all to understand that Mepal Parish Council cannot tolerate behaviour like this and it will impact our ability to manage the PC facilities in future. Our current contractors have indicated that if the behaviour continues they may have to stop work on the field and flood control work.

Please help us out by making sure that it is not your children causing the damage and report abusive behaviour and vandalism or criminal damage in the village to the police by following this link: https://www.cambs.police.uk/report/Report