Anti-social and Criminal Behaviour at Parc Bryn Bach
You may have seen our recent appeal for assistance to source information about the stolen vehicle from Parc Bryn Bach. We’re delighted that, with the help of the community and Gwent Police, this has been located and returned to us.
In addition, we experienced further, dangerous vandalism at the end of last week when a shed was set on fire near the polytunnels used by our grounds team and the biodiversity team at BGCBC to nurture flora used around the park to encourage biodiversity. Fortunately nobody was hurt during the fire and we thank the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service for their prompt response.
Unfortunately, these are just two incidences of anti-social and criminal behaviour that we experience at Parc Bryn Bach (PBB).
Aneurin Leisure Trust, which manages PBB, is committed to improving community life and, as a charitable organisation, we source additional funding to improve our facilities and any profit we make is wholly reinvested to assist with the ongoing expenses of running the facilities, their upkeep and implementing new ideas and resources for the local community to enjoy.
Therefore, when we experience vandalism, theft or anti-social behaviour it has a significant impact on our ability to maintain or improve our services.
Below are some recent examples of the problems we have experienced in the last month:
We have had 200 conifer trees stolen from PBB. The team works hard to maintain and improve this local nature reserve and the trees were planted to create a natural hedge line around the driving range to help increase wildlife and create natural habitats. All 200 trees, including the supports and protectors, were stolen at a cost in excess of £2,000. This doesn’t include the staff costs and the time that our volunteers spent in assisting the grounds team to plant them. Unfortunately, currently there are no plans to replace the trees due to budgetary constraints.
Our Wellbeing Workhubs provide an environment where people can work which is among nature and free to use but has been subject to attempted vandalism with people using clubs to try and smash the windows. Fortunately, the glass withstood the attack.
Our mini-golf course is a great source of fun for children in particular but the dragon feature in the course was a victim of mindless vandalism and its head thrown into bushes. This now needs to be repaired and replaced.
The play area received significant funding through the Valleys Regional Park Discovery Gateways initiative and, again, is a fantastic resource for the local community but we experience ongoing vandalism, most recently the big slide has been ripped out of the ground and it is now out of use. We will be repairing the slide but there is a significant cost implication to this along with the delay in getting the right replacements meaning that the local community are without this resource.
Fire extinguishers are repeatedly stolen from the caravan park and need to be replaced.
CCTV cameras are broken and have to be repaired immediately to ensure we are protected.
We estimate that around £15,000 worth of damage has been incurred due to theft and vandalism in the past month alone. Fortunately, the stolen machinery has been located and whilst we are insured for some elements, obviously all of this activity affects our insurance premiums.
The Trust is committed and determined to keep improving the services and facilities that we manage across Blaenau Gwent. We are grateful for the support we get from the local community and ask that you remain vigilant to any anti-social behaviour. Should you witness any suspicious activity please do not approach or intervene yourselves but report it to a member of staff or call the police on 101.
As a thank you to the local community for their help and support with the recent theft, we’re planning to host a family fun day at Parc Bryn Bach in the summer – we’ll let you know when the date is set!
