By BRIDGET COOK
THE City of Casey has been forced to investigate relocating a Cranbourne skate park after users repeatedly vandalised and disrupted neighbouring houses.
At last week’s Casey Council meeting, councillors resolved to investigate moving the existing skate park in Brookland Greens to a new open space being planned in the same estate, near Ballarto Road.
Councillor Geoff Ablett put the idea forward following ongoing pressure from residents living near the existing skate park, who have had enough of youths wreaking havoc on the neighbourhood.
“It has got to a stage where enough is enough for residents living near the skate park because of the number of very dangerous incidents,” he said.
“It is obvious a war has broken out between some park users who have thrown rocks and bins at houses regularly and graffitied many fences with home owners close to the park.”
Neighbouring resident Patricia Smith said they had all had enough.
“We’ve had rocks thrown at our house, our rubbish bin pushed through our front window, our fence has been punched in and we’ve been abused by some of the users.
“They hit our fence as they came past and set off our dogs. We tell them to move on and this is what happens.
“It’s bad and we would be more than happy to see it go.
“I’ve got my own children and I won’t let them use it because of the behaviour that goes on there.”
Another resident, Judy Meehan, said she believed it needed to be moved to an open space.
“It’s too close to houses and needs to be moved somewhere with more space,” she said.
“There are plants being ripped out of gardens, graffiti all over the park, broken glass everywhere and the bins trashed.
“I had lights ripped out of my garden which we found over at the park.
“It’s just like a rubbish dump.”
Cr Ablett said he had spoken to a lot of the youths that used the skate park and they agreed that relocating it to a more open area with more sporting facilities was a good thing.
“They also said the skate park needed to be four metres wider, and contain a bowl and a half pipe activity as it was very limiting.
“They asked if it was relocated to an open area living park with other activities, could it be designed better, as it could be a lot more fun.
“So from my perspective, a relocation and better design could be a win for residents and users of the skate park.”
A report on the matter will come back to next week’s council meeting.
