Calls for fences to deter park vandals

A "complete ring of steel" will be put up around a Whitchurch park to keep yobs out late at night and protect the park from vandalism.

Members of the Queensway Park committee say late night boozing and anti-social behaviour is "getting totally out of hand" and needs to be stopped.

The group will also write to Chief Constable Paul West, of West Mercia Police, and North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson, as well as north Shropshire police inspectors, in a desperate bid to combat the problem.

Barry Hale, chairman of the committee, said the group decided at a meeting last night to try to secure the park with fencing and gates as soon as possible because youngsters were using it as a "drinking den".

He said a shed which housed park equipment was being vandalised so often, members had also decided to secure that.

The work could cost up to £60,000 and will be carried out as the first phase of a £140,000 revamp project, which would see new play equipment installed at the park and new pathways created.

The group also wants a bylaw to give police powers to ask people to leave.

Mr Hale said: "We've got to secure the park with fencing and gates; whether we could put a complete ring of steel all the way round, or just where it's open to the public footpaths and the road, but we definitely need to do something so we can stop this nuisance."