Thieves ruin £2k path project

A project to renovate the Donkey Steps off Welbeck Road, has had to be cancelled due to the theft of wooden edging boards from the site.

The project which cost more than £2,000 was a partnership between Severn Trent Water and Nottinghamshire County Council, coordinated by the local Millennium Green Trust who own the adjoining land.

Millennium Green trustee Bob Thacker said the council had already repaired a number of unsafe steps and made good the stone work, when the theft was discovered on Thursday (August 24).

H said: “Volunteers came on site to fit edging boards along both sides of the steps.

“They made great progress and completed around 75 per cent of the work that day.

“Unfortunately when the volunteers arrived in Thursday they found most of the edging installed on Wednesday had been ripped out of the ground and stolen.

“It was a great shame that volunteers who give freely of their time and effort to make things better for our community are thwarted in this way - it is very annoying and soul destroying.

“However, it shouldn’t make us stop trying to do the right thing.”

“Their contractor Gardiners who had given free technical help during the project had little option but to withdraw their support a further effort simply being a gift to thieves.”

A spokesman for Severn Trent Water said: “Our voluntary community champions give up two days a year to help communities and we were out there providing the muscle for the project it is a great shame the theft has led to it being cancelled.”

Anyone with information about the theft, which took place around 1am Thursday morning, should contact Nottinghamshire Police on 101 quoting incident 199 of August 24. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.