HARD-WORKING volunteers at a Wyke Regis park have given up their battle against ‘disrespectful’ youths that continue to destroy their park following the latest vandalism attack. The trail of destruction following the Bank Holiday weekend included pulled down trees, beer and alcohol cans thrown on the ground and smashed glass in the children’s play area. Today, after years of early morning starts and hard work, the passionate volunteers of Wyke Gardens say they have finally ‘had enough’ and will no longer pick up the rubbish and maintain the park.

Chairman of the Wyke Regis Protection Society, Richard Price said that the volunteers are disillusioned and feel like they are not receiving enough support to deal with the after-effects of groups of teenagers’ anti-social behaviour in the park.

He said: “The order that was served by the police to stop teenagers gathering here hasn’t worked.

“Yesterday morning we were here for more than an hour picking up the mess and we took out about five carrier bags full of alcohol bottles and beers cans and food rubbish.

“We do all this work and get the park looking as good as it can and then people go and do this.

“This has been the worst year yet and now we have decided we are not cleaning up any more – we have just had enough.”

Mr Price said that the vandalism attacks were organised, with the culprits using chisels, spanners and saws to remove or destroy certain parts of the park.

“People who come to the park to enjoy it have a right to do so without putting up with rubbish or obnoxious groups of teenagers who are being intimidating,” he added.

Another volunteer Vic Griffiths, 83, said: “It is just pure malicious damage – over the past years trees have been knocked down, there’s rubbish and glass everywhere and even the concrete stanchions from the tennis courts were ripped out of the ground.”

Members of the society are calling for CCTV to be installed as a deterrent to troublemakers at the park.

But Weymouth and Portland Borough Council says this is not an option because of financial constraints. Council parks manager Carl Dallison, pictured below, said there has been an escalation in damage to the park, which has cost the council more than £2,000 to £3,000 to put right in the last few years.

He said: “Without the efforts of Richard and the other volunteers the park wouldn’t be anything like it is now.

“It really is quite depressing the mess that these groups make in that park – we get calls on a Monday to remove benches from trees and all sorts.

“It is an absolute tragedy that the volunteers feel they have had enough.”

PCSO Lucy Allmond of Wyke Regis Safer Neighbourhood Team said the damage at the park has been ‘relentless’.

“We have stepped up patrols every evening and we have anti-social behaviour vans that visit the site regularly,” she said. “Over the last few weeks the behaviour of people in the park has been getting worse and what we really need is for people to phone the police immediately if they see the damage being done.”

The park volunteers hope that residents of Wyke Regis will form a Friends of Wyke Gardens Group so they can protest for changes to the park. n A meeting will be held on Thursday, April 23, at 7pm in Wyke Regis Working Men’s Club to discuss the proposal and the meeting is open to all. For more information contact the Parks Department on 01305 838297.