MOSSLEY Town Council is calling for community action to stamp out anti-social and criminal behaviour in Mossley Park.
The park was recognised by the Green Flag Award Scheme for 2019-20 as one of the best green spaces in the world.
But weeks later, the beauty spot was targeted by vandals who trashed one of the new picnic tables and uprooted one of the newly planted apple trees.
The Friends of Mossley Park are now asking for support from the local community to combat drug dealing and other acts of criminal damage taking place in the park.
At the recent Mossley Town Council meeting, the Friends raised concerns that the lack of police and slow response to reports of incidents was allowing the area to be taken over by thugs.
They now want the town council to help empower the public against such anti-social acts and are encouraging people to report incidents.
“We cannot condone the drug dealing and drug taking which are occurring in Mossley Park and we will work together, and with the wider community, to stop this from happening,” the Friends said in a statement.
Town Council chair Cllr Frank Travis, a founder member of the Friends of Mossley Park, said: “The council’s response was clear that they should put our weight behind this.
“We cannot allow a project which is still ambitious for more facilities, especially for young people, should be undermined like this. But we agreed that we must make this a Mossley wide initiative.”
The council does not want the problem solved in the park only for it to materialise elsewhere.
And while discussions continue with the police and other agencies to establish a way forward, Cllr Travis said the council is asking the public to be vigilant and to report incidents as they occur.
He added: “This is a problem for us all and we want to emphasise that the police should respond as they have done before, to the weight of evidence provided.
“That will only be if it’s consistently reported and we know the scale and location of the problems. We will be issuing more guidance on this after the consultation with the police.”