Taxpayer left with £140k bill as vandals hit public buildings

Schools, public toilets and cemeteries wrecked across Angus

Attacks on schools and public buildings in Angus have left taxpayers with a six-figure bill.

Incidents including smashed public toilets anddesecrated cemeteries across the county have seen the local authority pay out more than £140,000 over the past five years.

Details of the worst-hit locations have been released in what was described by local Conservative MP Kirstene Hair as a “list of shame”.

Arbroath topped the table with a £78,300 bill followed by Montrose and District with £26,700.

Next on the list was Kirriemuir on £11,400, Forfar on £10,800, and £6,800 in Brechin.

Monifieth and Carnoustie had the smallest bills of all burghs, costing £3,784 and £2,600 respectively.

Schools vandalism figured prominently and was costly, with a cracked Willow Dome in Grange PS, Monifieth, costing £2,874 alone to repair. Graffiti removal at Websters High in Kirriemuir cost £1,755 in 2015 and last year there was a bill for £1,000 to replace two damaged CCTV cameras at Brechin Community Campus.

Roof damage at Arbroath Signal Tower Museum in 2015 cost another £6,000 to repair.

Ms Hair said “reckless” damage to public property is a burden that councils can ill-afford to shoulder.

“If vandals are old enough to cause thousands of pounds worth of damage to schools and graveyards, they will understand the consequences of their actions,” she said.

“They should hang their heads in shame. This is money the local authority could spend on vital public services, which are increasingly being squeezed by budgets.

“The SNP’s finance secretary recently announced a real-terms cut to council budgets. Angus cannot afford to bear these kinds of losses any longer.”

The costly repairs are being carried out at a time when the cash-strapped local authority is facing cuts in a desperate effort to claw back money.

An Angus Council spokesman said: “Vandalism of public property creates an unwelcome and unnecessary cost for the public purse in repairs to put right this type of criminal damage.

“We would ask those who get involved in this type of anti-social behaviour to stop and think about the impact of their actions on their communities.

“We also appeal to anyone who witnesses an act of vandalism to report it to the police.”

If vandals are old enough to cause thousands of pounds worth of damage, they will understand the results of their actions. KIRSTENE HAIR MP