Vandals threatened a £500,000 Angus playpark two days after it was completed, The Courier can reveal.
A heavy Ludo piece-shaped bollard made of stone was found uprooted at the new West Links play area in Arbroath, which is due to be officially opened this week.
This is the latest in a spate of vandalism to blight the town, following a series of separate incidents involving graffiti, damage to cars, malicious fires and the destruction of children’s equipment.
The latest act was discovered by Arbroath councillor David Fairweather as he walked his dog along the shore on Saturday.
He said: ”It was with dismay that I passed the new £500,000 playpark at West Links and witnessed that already one part of the new features had been vandalised.
”This was no mean feat as the item concerned was one of the Ludo pieces made of stone, which would have taken at least four people to lift off its metal rod.
”The gross stupidity of this act goes beyond any normal person’s rationale of what is in the interest of public safety.
”Removing this heavy object, which a hurricane would have struggled with, not only placed youngsters at risk from it rolling over but the metal rod it sat on could have caused serious damage to a child falling on it, with catastrophic consequences.”
Mr Fairweather called the council’s roads department to report the damage and the area was quickly cordoned off with barriers.
The playpark was completed at the start of last week and opened to the public on Thursday. Angus Provost Helen Oswald is due to unveil it this Thursday at 10.30am.
Angus Council vice-convener of neighbourhood services Councillor Jeanette Gaul said: ”The council has spent £500,000 to create this very attractive new play area at West Links for the benefit of local families and visitors to Arbroath.
”I condemn this mindless vandalism, where a tiny minority of people are set on spoiling this asset to the town and have in the process seriously compromised their own safety.
”The more money we require to spend on repairing vandalism, the less we have to spend elsewhere.
”We need to work as a community to eliminate this anti-social behaviour and I ask that anyone witnessing vandalism at the West Links or any of our other play areas should immediately contact the police.”
Mr Fairweather said additional security measures should be installed to deter people from causing further damage.
He has contacted the council’s director of neighbourhood services to ask that CCTV be installed alongside signs warning that vandals or anyone engaging in anti-social behaviour will be prosecuted
”I have already had to call the police on two occasions for the misuse of the park and warn younger members of the public that, while the fencing was still up with the ‘danger, do not enter’ signs, that the area was not open to the public,” Mr Fairweather added.
”It angers me that a small minority seem to think they can spoil it for those it was intended for by riding bikes, misusing the equipment and generally thinking they are being smart by doing so.”
A spokeswoman for Angus Council said yesterday: ”A Ludo piece, one of several decorative features in the West Links playpark, was vandalised at the weekend.
”The area has been cordoned off in that section meantime. We will undertake various works to prevent this happening again.”
The new playpark features a section for toddlers, adventure areas including timber and stainless steel play equipment, a rubber-surfaced landscaped play area with moulded contours and dips, timber sculptures, colourful walls to act as wind screens and a climbing wall.
The work was undertaken by contractor Covanburn Contracts Ltd of Hamilton and cost £490,148 to complete.
gbletcher@thecourier.co.uk