Fears over glass, needles and condoms in Haywards Heath park

Residents are now calling on Mid Sussex District Council to mount a clean-up campaign at Clair Park Recreation Ground.

They say that children and animals are being placed at risk by broken glass from vandals smashing beer bottles within a children’s playground in the park.

Clair and Stephen Smith, of Oathall Road, Haywards Heath, said they were ‘horrified’ when they were on a walk with their dog and found numerous pieces of beer bottle glass on a main pathway and inside the children’s play area.

They said: “It is clearly unacceptable that people’s and animals’ safety, and particularly children’s health and safety, are being put at risk by acts of mindless vandalism in our park.”

And they called for more to be done to stop any recurrence - including a ban on drinking alcohol in the park and more ‘official patrols’ in the area.

“As well as reducing vandalism, broken glass and threatening behaviour, we might also see a reduction in drug use, discarded needles and drug paraphernalia, as well as used condoms, tampons and human faeces, all of which have been left in our park in recent months.”

Meanwhile, fellow resident Geoffrey Darling, said the saga had been going on since last spring and also called for action. Council contractors had cleared mess following complaints, only for more rubbish to be left there.

Councillor Pru Moore, cabinet member for leisure said: “Clair Park is a main route from Oathall Road to Perrymount Road and unfortunately the people who pass through the park do not always dispose of their litter in a social responsible manner. In this case we received an email from a local resident about the broken glass and our team had the path completely cleared withinthree hours.

“We have increased the number of regular litter clearances we carry out at the park but this problem will only be fully resolved when those people littering start to take greater responsibility for their actions and do more to protect their local environment.Recently there have been some reports of anti-social behaviour in the park and the playground in particular. Sussex Police is aware and has increased patrols in the area.”