Main priority is better security

Very recent examples are the damage to the children's play areas in Priory Park, Buffery Park and Mary Stevens Park, damage to the visitors' centre in Leasowes Park, damage to a disabled person's gate and other facilities at Western Avenue Park, damage at Silver Jubilee Park, damage at Turners Lane, damage at Wollaston Park and threatening gang of youths at Wollaston Park and Stevens Park.

The £3.4 million from the Government's Liveability Fund presents a once-only opportunity for the regeneration of our parks and their reclamation from the yobs and vandals in order to give them back to the decent ordinary citizens.

The problem remains that while this money will be spent on improving facilities, there are no long-term provisions for improving security on our parks.

However Dudley Council has now been given a new £5 million cash windfall for its success in reducing some types of crime.

Surely much of this could be used to combat the crimes regularly committed in our parks and public places, considerably reducing the costs of repairing vandal damage and making Dudley a better, safer place.

Many children are nervous of going into parks to play because of the threatening presence of adolescent yobs.

Might I suggest the first priority should be security, and the initial use of this new £5 million windfall in addition to the recent £3.4 million be to ensure that all our parks are adequately fenced, patrolled and protected?

This would have the double benefit of improving the safety of our parks for the benefit of all legitimate users and allow children to play without fear thus improving their health.

I appreciate that the initial cost of fencing all our parks as they were prior to 1940 might seem high but this would soon be recouped in vastly reduced annual repair costs and then, once our parks were safe and secure, the park staff could concentrate on improving our parks rather than fighting their current losing and depressing battle against vandalism. Common sense would seem to dictate this but until then it rather seems very much like chucking good money after bad.

The council wrings its hands, appeals for people to report crimes and talks vaguely of the high cost of all this vandal damage yet do little to stop it. It would be very interesting to learn just how much in total annual cost throughout the borough to council tax payers to repair all this vandal damage. I suspect this total would horrify?

Roger Bruton, Paganel Drive, Dudley.