Words: Kate Janeway
Angry residents have hit out at vandals who started a fire in the recently upgraded children’s play area on Swinnow Moor.
Vandals took books from a recently installed Little Library, which was installed earlier this year to encourage the sharing of books in the community, as well as emptying nearby bins.
Yvonne Allman, from Swinnow Community Centre, put out the fire, which was started last night. She said via Facebook:
“A child could have been burnt, it was still smoldering. I had to put it out. Bins emptied, books taken out of the free library. Why? So many families enjoy this park.”
One local resident, who asked not to be named, told WLD of her disappointment. She added:
“It’s heartbreaking to see when so much effort has been out into improving the area. Sometimes you feel you can’t have anything without people just destroying it. There have been so many incidents in Swinnow this year, the park definitely needs CCTV investing in it.
“I regularly take my kids there and it needs protecting.”
Pudsey councillor Simon Seary also expressed his disappointment. He added:
“It’s disappointing to see the recent fire damage to Swinnow Moor play park after the recent investment to the area. As councillors, this will not stop us from making more improvements across Pudsey, Swinnow or Tyersal. we all deserve the best for our home town and a small minority will not stop it.”
A volunteer from Swinnow Community Centre tidied the mess. Council parks officers also attended to check the equipment for damage.
Nothing new and entirely expected by me and I’m sure many others from the moment ground was broken for the trim trail.
I have lived in Swinnow for all of my 50+ years, this is not a new problem. From concrete posts being broken off at the Swinnow Pub and carried down the road a quarter of a mile to be thrown through my house window in the 80s to the, still, daily stones being thrown at my house I have experienced generations of anti social behaviour. The drug dealers at the Coop car park and their runners on mopeds and in their cars touching 60 mph down Swinnow Lane do little to add to the appeal of the area. The ingenious use of the books from the lending box shows how dedicated they are to causing damage but they’d never think of channelling such ingenuity into a positive contribution to their community. Predictable too to see Cllr Seary hijack what could have been a straightforward condemnation of the behaviours and a unifying call with an unsubtle attempt to raise the profile of his party, such is the nature of politicians of any affiliation.
I was born and raised in Pudsey and I used to be proud to be a Pudsey lass. Moved back up to the area 5 years ago, not only is town centre over run by yobbos they’re targeting kids play areas! I know there’s always been vandals and yobs about but what satisfaction comes of destroying things for other people. Some children don’t have access to their own garden and all the play parks were locked for a few months last year cos of covid. Definitely need more cctv everywhere but that’ll cost more for the council and then more for the taxpayer. I only noticed the little library down swinnow last week and thought it a lovely idea to get people reading and sharing books, as I’ve seen on Pudsey born and bred have been installed in various parts of pudsey. I’ve only just started reading books again and would love to share with others, unfortunately it doesn’t look like a safe place to exchange books anymore.