Council urged to act over disgraceful Milnrow Park vandalism

Councillor Andy Kelly, leader of Rochdale Liberal Democrats has urged Rochdale Council to send a team to clean up the play area at Milnrow Memorial Park. He was speaking after vandals poured gloss paint all over the new play area and even signed what is thought to be their names. He has reported the incident to the Council after receiving complaints from furious residents. He has also asked the local police to investigate and called for parents to keep their children away until the park is cleaned up.

Councillor Kelly said: "This vandalism is completely unacceptable. I am absolutely furious. I have visited the site and I estimate that it will cost hundreds if not thousands of pounds to clean up. The play area is extremely popular with locals and we need to catch the culprits as a matter of urgency. I am proud that incidents of anti-social behaviour are few and far between locally. We are lucky in our area to have an active 'friends of' group in the park - I have spoken to members this morning and they are livid. This act of mindless vandalism will affect so many people and I urged the police to step up their patrol in the absence of CCTV."

Councillor Irene Davidson, an active member of the Friends of Milnrow Memorial Park said: "I'm disgusted. How anybody can do this to a facility which so many people love and enjoy beggars belief."

Davidson has demanded a meeting with the Council to discuss CCTV and security at the park. She accused the Council of breaking previous promises to install CCTV overlooking the play area. She said: "If the Council had kept promises made before the election and installed CCTV, it would have been easy to catch the culprits. The fact that the people responsible signed their names in paint may make it easier for us the identify them. The Council have let us down, dragging their feet over the CCTV. Environmental Services agreed to give a 24 hour / 7 days a week, state of the art CCTV system the go ahead after liaising with the police. Now they claim that they didn't realise that it was their responsibility to fit it. They are playing silly buggers and should keep their promises. I hope they agree to meet Councillor Kelly and myself at the earliest possible opportunity to discuss their failings and to get on with the job."