Worthington Parish Council

Earlier this year a Facebook post informed you of our desire to install new equipment at the Worthington play area, and we sought ideas from the community including any thoughts regarding prevention of vandalism and anti-social behaviour which has plagued this play area for some time.

There have been some updates since, and this is the latest information.

The plan is to install a MUGA (multi-use games area) which should appeal to a wider age range and make the park more inclusive. This decision came about following ad hoc discussions with youngsters who use and / or simply meet at the park; input from the local police beat team who similarly engaged with the youngsters, and a notified meeting with local residents.

The MUGA is a very significant financial investment and to this end we applied for various grants to fund it. To date we have received £20k from the National Lottery and have applied for similar sized grants from other organisations. To support our grant applications, we received and submitted letters of support from our County and District Councillors, the church, the school, the post office/shop and the police, for which we are very grateful.

We are also applying for a grant to install CCTV. A structural survey has been carried out by the county council on one of the adjacent lamp posts; this will provide power for the CCTV equipment, and we now await funding. Footage from the CCTV will NOT be available to the parish council (thus ensuring compliance with GDPR and other regulations), and will be accessed only by the police. Feedback from the community suggested CCTV would help to reduce or prevent anti-social behaviour, vandalism, and of course littering which is a perennial problem at the play area.

Ultimately we may have to call on parish council reserves to fund some of this work but we are working towards getting as much external funding as possible to maximise the value to parishioners.

As we receive further updates, we will of course post on Facebook and the parish council’s website but in the meantime if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the parish clerk whose email address is clerk@worthington-pc.gov.uk. As Facebook is an informal communication medium, we will usually not respond to comments or questions arising from one of our posts.

Your Parish Council has recently spent a considerable amount of time and money (your money) repairing the play areas in the Parish to ensure the safety and enjoyment of everyone wishing to use the facilities.

Sadly, only a couple of weeks after these repairs had been completed, further wanton vandalism has occurred. We know that you will agree this is a very sad state of affairs and totally unacceptable. We are also sure that you do not want to keep spending your money on repairs to equipment / facilities, due to the actions of a small minority of individuals, who for reasons unknown wish to damage pieces of equipment which are intended to enrich the lives of our younger generation. If this vandalism continues, the Council will have to consider if the provision of these facilities offers good value to Parishioners, as the ongoing cost of repairs will become prohibitive.

The Council categorically does not wish to remove these facilities but we have to be aware of the health and safety risks to users of the equipment and also act in the interests of all the community with a view to the ongoing costs of maintenance etc. The Council had already included in the upcoming budget for a complete revamping / replacement of the Worthington play area and equipment, and improvements to other play areas in the Parish; this represents a considerable investment and we don’t want it to be a waste of YOUR money; we all need to do what we can to prevent this apparently routine vandalism. We can only request that, if anyone has any information as to who is responsible for the damage, they report it to the appropriate authorities, as we all want to live in a Parish where improvements in our environment and facilities are able to be maintained and enhanced, for the benefit of all.

Obviously the Parish Council has reported the incidents to the Police, who have committed to increase their patrols of the areas affected; however they cannot be present all the time and therefore the community’s involvement is essential if we are to stop this abhorrent behaviour.

Thank you.

Worthington Parish Council.