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Most of the damage is believed to have occurred on Friday night and was discovered by the council’s parks team on Saturday morning. Further damage was then found in the Valley play area following Saturday night.

Damage reported Friday night occurred near the Rossi’s kiosk.

• the shade sail at the new seating area was torn;
• block paving around the bench opposite Rossi’s was damaged;
• a waste bin near the new seating area was set on fire;
• paving slabs around the shingle bed near the kiosks were broken and removed; and
• several bins were kicked over, pulling them out of their ground anchors.

Damage reported after Saturday night

• the grey slide in the Valley play area was destroyed; and
• more bins were kicked over.

Cllr Simon Morgan, Leader of Maldon District Council, said: “This vandalism is unacceptable and once again the mindless acts of a few have damaged facilities provided for everyone to enjoy. We thank our maintenance and parks teams, who have been working hard to make safe and repair everything that can be put right immediately.

We are working with Essex Police to resume joint patrols as soon as possible to help deter further incidents, building on the benefit from the joint police patrols in March.

This is in addition to new, high-tech CCTV which is being installed across the park so there will be no hiding place. Rest assured, by day or night if you cause damage, you will be caught.

Whilst we are using CCTV images as part of the investigation, the public can also assist, if you have any information which may be of help, please report it to the Police using crime reference numbers 42/154613/26 & 42/153399/26.”

-ENDS-