Council staff ask community to keep an eye out after vandalism

29 July, 2022

Council staff are asking the Kaipara community to report any antisocial behaviour around public facilities after a recent run of vandalism.

Donna Powell, Operations Team Leader for Infrastructure Services, says the destruction of public facilities is “incredibly frustrating, made worse by the costs the damage incurs.”

“Having to replace lights, ceramic toilet pans, locks, lids and even whole cubicles, all adds up. Our team works hard to protect and maintain these assets for our communities, so everyone can enjoy them.”

The damage has been wide-ranging.

“At Selwyn Park (Dargaville), our contractors have had to clean up and replace smashed lights, up at Harding Park (Dargaville) a toilet has been destroyed with the ceramic pan smashed to smithereens. Significant fires have been started in toilets in both Dargaville and Mangawhai recently. Graffiti has also been on the rise, with our contractors being called out four or five times just in the last month to clean up offensive tagging.”

Donna notes that on top of the vandalism costing thousands of dollars, the community misses out on the use of those facilities while they are fixed or replaced.

“Our contractors have removed the smashed lights, but at this point in time we can’t replace them,” says Donna. “They’re built to resist vandalism, but in this case that wasn’t enough, and we don’t have the confidence they won’t be targeted by the same people.

“We have also had to remove the Selwyn Park shade sails after kids climbing on them irreversibly stretched the material and compromised the structure, but we are able to redesign these to inhibit climbers so will have them back as soon as possible.”

n If you see or hear about any antisocial behaviour or illegal activity, the team is asking the public to please call the Police Non-Emergency on 105.