Angry residents are calling on police and councillors to crackdown on anti-social behaviour at a Nantwich park.
Families living near Brookfield Park, off Shrewbridge Road, say they regularly have to clean up mess including alcohol cans and bottles, drug bags and nitrous oxide canisters.
On one occasion, they found a 7″ knife left on the park close to the children’s play area.
One resident said the park turns into a scene from “Glastonbury Festival” every time there is nice weather, with cars and motorbikes also driving around the park.
Most recent acts of vandalism occurred at the weekend when newly planted Cheshire Wildlife Trust sapling trees were destroyed.
“Every time we have good weather Brookfield Park transforms into Glastonbury Festival,” said one resident, who asked not to be named.
“I have absolutely no problem with a park full of happy teenagers.
“But, unfortunately the park is trashed every time which we have been clearing up every morning after for the last year.
“How did we spend Easter Sunday morning? Like all mornings when Brookfield Park has been full the day before – clearing up plastic bottles, food packaging, cigarette butts, huge amounts of alcohol cans and bottles, along with a 7” knife, small plastic drug bags, nitrous oxide canisters and picking shards of broken glass out of the grass.
“Not to mention the drunken fights and cars and motorbikes zooming around the park while the public are on it.
“Despite pleading to the council for more bins and emptying the bins regularly enough and pleading to the police to come down hard on the antisocial behaviour, we have been left to deal with this on our own.
“The police especially have been responsible for creating a climate where the teenagers think they can do whatever they like and nothing will happen… and they are absolutely right.”
On one occasion, a stolen picnic table dragged from the nearby allotment was set on fire.
The tree planting by Cheshire Wildlife Trust is a project funded by Cheshire East Council as part of their Carbon Reduction work.
Adam Linnet, of Cheshire Wildlife Trust, said: “It is incredibly sad to see these trees have been damaged.
“Not only does it undo the hard work of our volunteers, it degrades the park for all to enjoy.
“But we don’t want residents to just feel angry or sad about what has happened.
“We want them to feel inspired to combat this act of vandalism with an act of positivity. We want one on four people to take action for wildlife across the county.
“Now is the perfect time for Nantwich residents to act, to sow nectar-rich flowers in their garden, to put up nest boxes and to volunteer for local environmental groups.
“We can’t repair these trees, but, together, we can make Nantwich a nicer place to live and bring wildlife back.”
Crewe and Nantwich MP Kieran Mullan hit out at those trashing the park.
He said: “This kind of behaviour is disgusting and shows a a complete disregard for the whole community.
“We all know how important our parks have been in the past 12 months and how important they will be this summer as we come out of lockdown.
“There is zero excuse. If the bin is full, carry your mess until you find a bin that isn’t. If you can’t do that, take it home.
“I know it isn’t just teenagers, but if you have children talk to them about it. As for vandalism, I know most people won’t feel able to intervene if they see it.
“But if you can use your phone to catch people doing it please do and report it to the police. Sadly it just takes a small group of idiots to ruin things for everyone.”
Today, police said talks had been held with organisations about erecting a potential barrier fence to stop vehicles getting on to the park, and patrols had been stepped up.
PC Matt Stonier said: “We are aware from our own patrols, reports from school leaders and residents that over the last month youths have returned to the park.
“As such we have increased both uniformed and plain clothes patrols around Brookfield park to both monitor the situation and intervene if offences are witnessed.
“We have also engaged with local high schools and colleges to highlight current Covid restrictions and expected behaviour whilst in the community.
“In just the last week we have held numerous meetings with local councillors, the nearby allotment associations and other interested parties to discuss ways of improving the situation.
“This will hopefully result in a physical barrier to prevent vehicles accessing the grassed area, increase in amount of bins to reduce the litter issue as well as further patrols by police officers.”
He said in the last 30 days there has been 14 incidents reported in relation to the park, mostly relating to groups of youths being there in breach of Covid legislation with a total of three crimes recorded.
“Once restrictions are eased and more hospitality settings open we would expect the numbers gathering to reduce.
“Despite this, if young people do continue to visit, albeit peacefully either playing football or socialising with friends, this isn’t something we will look to discourage.
“We would ask that anyone who witnesses any acts of damage or antisocial behaviour contacts Cheshire Police via 101 or the online reporting tool so that officers can be quickly deployed to both disperse groups and investigate offences.”
These thugs are not that local, they have been spotted coming in on trains to town from the Crewe area. No coincidence the Crewe park is locked overnight, they don’t want their parks damaged, do they? Time real policing started here too, no excuse why should we put up with this for another year, our open spaces belong to all of us, not the feral lazy yobs
The police need to be more visual, more foot patrols an d engagement with the local youth , get to know them, they are far from all bad, it used to be called community policing, for that to work you have to connect with them.
Also the parents of these young people need to show more interest in how and what their children (or young adults ) are up to at the weekend
Joke police – Joke m.p
Nantwich is turning into an embarrassment. What was once a nice place to live, it is now being allowed to turn into a living nightmare for many parts of the community. From this shocking behaviour at Brookfield to illegal encampments on the barony and appalling ASB in Willaston. I’m fed up of hearing that it’s a small minority, fed up of police inaction and the continual turning of the blind eye to the actual crimes being committed, fed up of nice little meetings to talk it through and hope for the best and fed up of liberal do gooders that assume it’s somebody else’s fault. I genuinely don’t know what the answer is but it’s clear that the police have failed, Cheshire east have failed and the local parishes are failing. Pop your for sale signs up