POLICE are to organise a meeting to try and thrash out ideas on how to stop the skate park in Wellington from becoming a trouble spot for the town.

Police were recently called to the skate park behind Wellington Sports Centre where a group of up to 50 youths were gathered – many of whom were drinking alcohol, smoking cannabis and using other psychoactive substances.

Now Sgt Dan Bishop, of Wellington Police, has told local councillors they are growing increasingly concerned that the people who want to use the skate park for what it is intended are being prevented from doing

so because of the irresponsible actions of others.

“The skate park is a facility that is used daily for the right reasons by youngsters and people of all ages from the Wellington community,” he told members of Wellington Town Council at their latest meeting via the Zoom video conferencing technology.

“But far too often, of late though, these individuals have been prevented from safely using the facilities due to drug paraphernalia, broken glass, empty cans and bottles and general litter being discarded by youths and groups of people who have gathered in the shelter at the skate park the night before.”

Sgt Bishop added: “As a police team, we are in the early stages of taking a problem-solving approach to tackling this.

“We have identified a group of youths and adults from the Springfield Road area who are most affected by this anti-social behaviour and who are keen to work with us in trying to improve things for everyone. These are individuals who can often be found in the skate park or The Basins with dust pans, a brush and other tools, clearing rubbish and broken glass to make the area safe for everyone to use once again.

“We will soon be organising a meeting to discuss the situation at the skate park and the areas that surround it to which we will invite partners and identified stakeholders to attend.

“This will hopefully lead to us identifying changes and developments that can be made to reduce anti-social behaviour and improve things, making it a friendlier and more welcoming environment for everyone.”

Sgt Bishop said those people who use the skate park for the correct reasons of recreation were not involved in the trouble.