A children’s playground at Quarry Moor Park in Ripon will remain closed for the foreseeable future because of ongoing vandalism and anti-social behaviour.
The decision to maintain the closure was taken by councillors in private session at Monday evening’s Ripon City Council meeting and confirmed in a statement on the council’s Facebook page.
It said that the council “regretfully resolved not to reinstate the playground at Quarry Moor at the present time”.
It added:
“Unfortunately the site is being vandalised almost daily. We are working with North Yorkshire Police who are responding to the regular reports of anti-social behaviour when they occur.
“Until we can plan a way forward with our partners that includes measures that impact on the behaviour at the site we are unable to commit funds to the playground.”
The statement added:
“We appreciate that this is caused by a small minority and that it is affecting our residents using the site. We are actively seeking solutions to the issue (and) will provide a further update as soon as possible.”
Quarry Moor is funded by an annual grant from the city council and the budget for 2023-24 is £15,000.
The playground has remained closed since a vandal attack In March and this followed a six-month closure from September 2021 due to a rat infestation which was eradicated after rubbish bins were removed from the site.
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