Repair bills footed by parents of guilty kids

PARENTS of yobs behind some of the vandalism attacks in a Barnsley park have offered to contribute towards the repair costs.

Locke Park has become an antisocial behavioir hot spot during the first weeks of the summer holidays with incidents including:

■ Youths climbing onto the roof of the cafe and hurling stones and other objects at passing cars

■ The electric lamps being kicked over and broken

■ Damage to the communal table tennis equipment

■ Several fires being started near the bowling green clubhouse.

Fed-up locals took pictures of the youths involved in some of the incidents and posted them on social media in the hope of alerting parents to what their children were up to.

Malcolm Price, treasurer of Friends of Locke Park, told the Chronicle: “This time the damage seems to be more than it has been in the past.

“There has been lots of damage in the park over the last few weeks.

“The lady who runs the cafe is trying to make a good go of it – she doesn’t need this.

“The parents have been in touch regarding the damage and have offered to pay towards repairs. There was funding from the council to put lights in the park, and about 20 have been kicked off. We were trying to make it safe for people.

“We paid for a table tennis table about five or six years ago, which had a metal net. That’s been ripped off. It’s a combination of things.

“On Saturday if we hadn’t have stopped them a group of youths would have started a fire behind the clubhouse. The parents have taken control now though and that is brilliant.”

Barnsley Council says it is now working to tackle the problem.

Coun James Higginbottom, cabinet spokesperson for environment and highways, said: “It’s hugely disappointing to hear about the vandalism that’s taken place at Locke Park

– sadly not for the first time.

“The most frustrating aspect of this senseless behaviour is that our limited resources are having to be used to repair damages instead of providing high quality services.

“Barnsley Council takes a zero tolerance stance on this kind of disgraceful behaviour.We’ve joined forces with partners at South Yorkshire Police to identify the offenders and our Safer Places Delivery Group and Asset Management teams are supporting the cafe with their vandalism reports to the police.”

Local resident Liam Hardcastle, who is also apart of the area’s crime safety group, told the Chronicle the park should be an area families love to attend – but it is starting to become the opposite.

“Locke Park is becoming an area for increased antisocial behaviour, residents have expressed their concerns over the past 12 months at crime and safety meetings regarding this and the amount of drug dealing that goes off,” he added.

“The police are stretched, and say they need 101 and online reports to be able to react to antisocial behaviour.

“The crime commissioner had promised at the May 22 local elections that Barnsley West Neighbourhood Policing Team would receive extra officers to cover an area that stretches from Penistone all the way to Stairfoot. We are still yet to see any increases in officer numbers.

“Locke Park should be an area where people can go to enjoy our green space, without having to encounter yobish behaviour.

“We have a number of new council neighbourhood wardens that were rolled out by BMBC to work in partnership with SYP to help get a grip on antisocial behaviour.

“We need more wardens to cover the Barnsley West area to be able to patrol this area more frequently and get on top of the problem.

“But ultimately it’s the responsibility of parents to know where and what their children are up to.”