"MINDLESS yobs" have been blamed for vandalising play equipment in an Earby park.

The fibreglass ears and tails of two animal rockers at Birley Playing Fields play area were cut off using some type of saw during an incident that occurred last month.

“They used a saw to cut through the heavy duty fibreglass,” said Earby ward councillor Mike Goulthorp, who received reports from residents about the criminal damage.

“People are getting a bit fed up in Earby of the anti-social behaviour taking place."

“To replace that equipment is very expensive,” he added, estimating the cost of each piece of damaged equipment to be at least £1,000 to repair.

"What on earth are people coming to?" said Cllr Chris Tennant, chairman of Earby Town Council. "These are mindless yobs.

"If people carry on like this, it's going to come to a point where we can't replace this equipment.

"They're depriving the kids of the town of a beautiful play area."

“It’s quite a decent play area that is used by families, who look after it,” added Cllr Goulthorp. “It’s very, very disappointing when you get a nice facility that gets ruined by a minority who are causing this problem.”

Cllr Goulthorp contacted Pendle Council, which sent out a representative to carry out repairs to the two animal rockers, making them safe and secure to use.

“We had someone come to repair them, but they look a sorry sight,” he said. “Any further damage to them and they will have to be removed and money will have to be spent to replace them.

“Earby Town Council, which has just taken on the responsibility of play areas, can’t just go out and replace this type of equipment easily,” said Cllr Goulthorp. “The only way to pay for any capital costs to make major repairs is to put the precept up, which means the residents of Earby get penalised by a small minority.”

Cllr Goulthorp said the incident was one of several ongoing issues that had occurred in the area, known locally as The Waterfalls, in the past few months.

“There is a lot of activity going on up there,” he said. “It is a little isolated, which is why people use it for doing activities that are illegal.”

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