Damage to pavilion is a big kick in the teeth

WE’VE taken great delight in following the progress and achievements of the Ashbourne Sports and Community

Partnership in providing the town with a new pavilion.

Hours and hours of volunteer work have been poured into making this happen, into a project that will benefit everyone in the town, young and old.

And so it is something of a kick in the teeth to find that this wonderful building is already treated with such a lack of respect that builders should arrive one morning to find it has been vandalised.

We don’t know who caused the damage, and we might never do, but this incident has come at a time when tempers are starting to flare over continuous reports of anti-social behaviour in and around the town.

The finger is being pointed at young people. Pictures are being posted on social media and we know the police in the town are well aware of groups of youths that have been causing trouble for many months.

Smashing glass bottles and leaving graffiti and litter in public places is one thing, but causing problems for a project that the town has collectively worked so hard to see through to completion seems, for many, to be something of a final straw.

And so we were very keen, on Thursday, to speak to one of our local police officers to find out what is being done to quell this growing problem in Ashbourne.

Sadly, perhaps the officers were too busy, we haven’t been offered an interview yet. But we will continue to pester the press office.

We know from first-hand reports that local Bobbies are well aware of the problems in the town and we should also emphasise the importance of reporting any issues to the police.

But it would be good to hear from our local officers, even just to have some sort of acknowledgement that they’re aware and that something’s being done. We’ll continue to remind Derbyshire police that we’re interested in a chat. And hopefully we’ll be able to bring you more news next week.