£100,000 Old Town vandals rampage

The shock news will be given to Wednesday's annual meeting of Old Town Preservation Society.

The public-spirited charity has invested large sums in worthy projects for the town including 90,000 for decorative lighting in a bid to cut vandalism in Manor Gardens and 100,000 to safeguard the future of Barrack Hall Park.

But Manor Barn, which it leases from Rother and runs as a public venue via an operating company, has been the target for repeated attack.

Chairman Michael Kent says in his annual report: "Vandalism continues to be a problem in the area and a quick calculation of mindless damage which includes arson attacks, smashing of windows and damage to vehicles and other property, by my estimates has cost approximately 100,000 in the past few years.

"The most worrying aspect is that the vandals are seemingly without parents does anyone care about what their offspring are up to?

"All the more disappointing is that because council and society money has had to be used to repair damage, less is available for projects all generations might enjoy.

"Also, if their property i.e. cars are continually damaged less people will come to Old Town, further adversely affecting the prosperity of the area and its amenities."

The chairman says the society has discussed possible measures with Rother but the costs are too great for either to bear.

The society was given a demonstration of CCTV cameras two years ago. But technical obstacles and costs were considered too great to overcome.

A security company is now offering high-definition infra-red cameras which can operate in low light.

But the chairman says: "A test was arranged for a moderately-priced two-camera system and regrettably, despite the advances that have been made, the images produced were not of adequate quality. Therefore the executive committee has once again been forced to reject the installation of cameras in Manor Gardens."