Vandals Strike Again at Western Road Playground

Town Council officials in Hailsham have issued an appeal for information after vandals yet again damaged play equipment in the play area located next to the Western Road Recreation Ground over the weekend.

It is believed that the damage, which involved cutting up the seat of the inclusive team swing in the playground, took place late on Friday [13th May] and was reported to the Town Council by a resident. The vandalism has resulted in significant damage to the swing, which is now unsafe for children to use, has been removed and will need to be replaced completely. The incident has been reported to the police and an appeal for information published on the Town Council’s social media pages.

The damage to the team swing followed the vandalism which took place last week, whereby pink paint was splattered over children’s play equipment and on the wet-pour safety surface. The removal of the paint was completed on Friday, just a few hours before the damage to the team swing was carried out.

The Town Council is urging anyone with information about who is responsible for this latest act of vandalism to contact the police immediately by calling 101.

“We are appalled by the recent spate of vandalism at the Western Road Recreation Ground children’s play area,” said Town Clerk John Harrison. “This is vandalism on a facility used daily by our community and is unacceptable anti-social behaviour.”

“A lot of money and time goes into maintaining the town’s play areas and providing these much-needed facilities for children in the local community so, if anyone has any information regarding the incident or witnessed any behaviour at the site that looked suspicious, please report it to Sussex Police as early as possible.”

Mr Harrison added: “It’s not immediately obvious what the motive of these recent acts of vandalism was, other than to spoil residents’ enjoyment of these much-needed community facilities.”