Parents 'key to stopping vandals' (From Penarth Times)

Parents 'key to stopping vandals'

PARENTS must keep an eye on their children if Penarth is to stand any chance of getting its vandalism problem under control.

This is the view of Cllr Anthony Ernest, who is eager to get the problem sorted for good.

It follows a spate of vandalism which has seen bus shelters covered in graffiti, panels broken on the pier, broken bottles scattered in public areas, and flowers pulled out of beds in the parks.

And park benches have not escaped either. The majority of the seats in Windsor Gardens have been attacked, with cast iron mouldings snapped and slats smashed.

Cllr Ernest, a member on both the Vale and Penarth Town Councils, said: "These benches cost around £800 to replace. It's getting to the stage where the Vale is looking at the situation and asking if there is any point in replacing them.

"Recently a bench was put on the hill up from the Esplanade. Within days it had been kicked in and broken. These benches are there for people like the elderly, who are walking up the hill and need to sit and take a rest.

When the benches are destroyed, the elderly have nowhere to sit."

Cllr Ernest says most problems occur in quiet areas, where the culprits are out of sight of the public. He highlighted the interior of Albert Road toilets as a particular problem, where fittings have been pulled off and graffiti covers newly-painted walls.

He added: "Somebody knows what's going on. Parents ought to be keeping an eye on their youngsters. And youngsters probably includes anyone up to about mid-20s.

"It's always the governing bodies that get condemned. People are not too specific as to which council, or quite why the council should have done these 'dastardly things' It's never people, especially Penarth people, who ever do these things, they would have us believe."