Roundhay Park vandalism: Antisocial behaviour reaches new high at Leeds park say disillusioned volunteers

Graffiti scrawled across a Grade-II listed sculpture, dozens of littered gas cannisters and “well-filled nappies dumped in trees” are just some of the incidents that have been reported at Roundhay Park this year.

A group of residents who are passionate about the upkeep of the well-loved green space have been left disillusioned in their efforts to keep the park looking clean and tidy – but they say that education is key to ending the apparent upturn in bad behaviour.

The most recent incident was the at the historic Barrans Fountain last week, when Leeds City Council workers arrived to find it covered in garish red graffiti that appeared to materialise overnight. Efforts have been made to remove it, but the damage is still visible.

Sara Dawson is the vice chair of the Friends of Roundhay Park. She said: “It’s really sad, but I wasn’t surprised to hear about the fountain. There is an increasing amount of antisocial behaviour in the park. I’m not really sure why, but we have definitely noticed an increase over the spring and summer.

“Someone spray-painted every bus stop and utility box all the way down Wetherby Road up until Street Lane. It included some really offensive wording.”

Graffiti has also been spotted by members of the group across walls and on information signs. The rogue painting at the Grade-II listed Barrans Fountain was particularly distressing for frequent park users because of the historic nature of the structure.

It was presented by Sir John Barran MP, who served as the city’s mayor in 1870. He was the same politician who purchased the park itself for the people of Leeds, an event that celebrated its 150th anniversary last year.

Sara continued: “John Barran’s descendants came down for the celebrations. They were even talking about having running water at the fountain for the first time. They would be devastated by this vandalism. We don’t remember the last time it was graffitied to the same extent.”

Martin Child, who leads the litter picking group at Roundhay Park, said that antisocial behaviour was “unquestionably” on the rise. One volunteer was left “close to tears” after the most recent litter picking session today (July 3) and said she wanted to move out of the area.

“We’re just sick of it,” said Martin. “Every single day we’re seeing pizza boxes and curry packages thrown out of car windows. We’re seeing things like well-filled nappies dumped in trees, and discarded barbeques. There were about 16 large nitrous oxide cannisters collected today, some of them still full.

“Why is it happening? That’s something that exercises my mind, but it seems to me that it’s an attitude of ‘I couldn’t care less’. I think there’s a real contempt for society now.

“Education is really important. We need the local authority to work with the police to take action. When we’re pulling nappies out of trees, it feels like something we need to address.”