A SERIES of incidents involving the vandalism of Windmill Woods, Launceston, has raised anger and concern over how some members of the community are treating local areas.

Vron Walters, a lead member of Launceston’s Smiley Happy People day nursery, has raised her concerns over the mistreatment of Windmill Woods following a number of incidents in the location.

The first was after drink cans, burnt school books, wrappers and other litter were left scattered in the woods. Seating areas and a wooden bin had also reportedly been damaged and burnt.

Following this, Vron spent time clearing the area, not only to make it tidier, but also safer for the children, dogs and walkers that regularly pass through Windmill Woods.

However, it came as a shock to Vron when she discovered the woods had been vandalised yet again, when she took a group of young children there for one of their regular Forest School sessions and a picnic on Tuesday, June 28.

With glass bottles smashed into smithereens on the ground and even more scattered litter, Vron spent half an hour bagging up the mess, created by ‘ignorant’ people.

With tearful and disappointed children, Vron had no choice but to go back to the nursery, as it was too unsafe to continue their Forest School session.

Speaking of the incident, Vron told the Post: “There are shards of glass everywhere, it’s just not safe for the children to be here. This isn’t just people messing around, these are people that are deliberately smashing bottles and making the area as dangerous as possible to put a child’s safety at risk.

“They are actively being dangerous and trying to hurt anyone that goes through these woods. It’s pure evil, and I didn’t think there were evil people in Launceston.”

PCSO Danielle Hill from Launceston Police said: “This isn’t a new problem. Towards the end of last summer, we were having problems with people going into Windmill Woods, littering, drinking and vandalising in there. We increased patrols as much as we could.”

She explained that as winter set in, there weren’t any problems for a long time, but recently it has been starting up again. The main issue in the woods currently is glass bottles being smashed, which PCSO Hill described as a new problem.

“We are working quite closely with the leisure centre and college, and are hoping to get in touch with the town council to look at a long-term plan of how to stop this happening.”

She added that the police are currently making enquiries, increasing patrols and monitoring CCTV in the area. Additionally, police have asked the leisure centre to keep an active look-out.

PCSO Hill added: “We are just getting as many eyes and ears out, as it’s not fair the area is being abused. People shouldn’t be drinking up there at all.”

Anyone with information about the vandalism of Windmill Woods can call the 101 non-emergency number or email [email protected]