Mansfield warden patrols to increase after anti-social behavior forces play area to close
Patrols by Mansfield District Council neighbourhood wardens are being stepped up after anti-social behaviour has led to the closure of a play area in Wood Lane for safety reasons.
Queensway Park in Forest Town has also been affected by excessive litter and broken glass and parts of The Carrs Nature Reserve and Carr Lane Park in Warsop have also had to be cleaned recently due to broken glass.
Another report of glass on play equipment at the park off Burlington Drive in Mansfield has also been received by the council this week.
Coun Andy Burgin, portfolio holder for the environment, said: "There is an exceptional amount of broken glass and empty bottles on the Wood Lane site from where people have been drinking.
"This, sadly, is becoming a regular occurrence.
"It takes our parks maintenance officers a lot of extra time to pick out broken glass from safety surfacing and this is why we have had to close the area until we can complete this work.
"This is a much needed playground which has been put out of action because of the thoughtlessness and unacceptable behaviour of people it is not intended for.
"It is the children who suffer from this kind of anti-social behaviour - not just from the risk of injury from the broken glass but also because their playgrounds have to be shut, sometimes for quite some time, until we can clean them up."
The council is appealing for anyone who spots people using play areas inappropriately to file an anti-social behaviour report on its website portal or call the council anti-social behaviour hotline on 01623 460144.