Vandals cause almost £30,000 worth of damage to children’s play equipment in West Lothian parks

Vandals have caused almost £30,000 worth of damage to children’s play equipment in parks across West Lothian in what a veteran councillor has branded “outrageous criminal behaviour” .

There was a spate of incidents over bonfire weekend with a significant increase in fire related damage across council owned play areas.

The arson attacks follow repeated fire raising earlier this year in Bathgate’s Balbardie Park where a shelter, built for teens to gather, was regularly torched.

The latest incidents have landed the council with ever increasing costs and mean it will have spent around £26,000 to repair play equipment damaged by fire related vandalism.

Among the parks damaged was equipment in Armadale’s St Anthony’s Park which was set ablaze, and a fire was started at Blackburn’s skate park.

Much of the equipment damaged has only recently been installed as part of a rolling programme to upgrade play parks.

A council spokesman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “This type of extensive damage often takes a long time to repair and can result in temporary play area closure, removal of equipment and months of public spaces looking unsightly.

“This has a further impact of reducing available budgets for improving and upgrading play areas.

“Fire related vandalism can quickly get out of hand and result in serious injuries. Should you ever come across such activity then please report it to the police immediately by calling 101.”

Executive councillor for the Environment, Labour’s Tom Conn said: “ This criminal behaviour is outrageous. These parks and play areas are there for the children and the wider community to enjoy.

“Such reckless behaviour is beyond comprehension. The cost of the clean-up and repair following fire related damage comes at a significant cost to the council at a time when budgets are extremely stretched.

“An increase in this sort of damage could potentially impact the ability of the service to carry out upgrades to play equipment. More importantly, it takes time to carry out such repairs which means these areas are unavailable for children and families for an unnecessary period.

“I would implore anyone with information to get in touch with the police.”