A RESIDENT has expressed his disgust after having to clean up broken glass and beer cans from a children’s playground in Witham.

Luke Magnay, a resident of the Humber Estate, visited the play park off of Spa Road, in Witham, with his young daughter on Saturday morning.

However when he arrived he found somebody had obviously had a heavy night, and there was broken glass and rubbish discarded everywhere.

He said: “Once or twice a month people seem to go for a few drinks over there and think they will trash the place.

"It is shocking and annoying in equal measure.

“I went out with my little girl on Saturday morning but there was broken glass everywhere and it is really unsafe.

“I’m not sure who the culprits are but if it is teenagers then these kids’ parents may not be aware that they are going out and doing this and if they can engage with them it might solve the problem.”

The situation has brought about renewed calls for some sort of youth engagement programme in the town.

Tina Townsend, chairman of the Witham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the group was working hard to put something together for youngsters.

She said: “This incident was disgusting and not what you want to see walking around somewhere like that.

“There needs to be more activities for the youngsters and we are setting some ideas in motion.

“Realistically we need volunteers and we need people who are prepared to help for a nominal amount of money.

“We need people’s time and once we have that we are on the way.”

Litterbugs have been warned that they could face fines if they are caught in the act.

Wendy Schmitt, councillor responsible for environment and place, said: “Littering is a criminal offence and there is no excuse for deliberately dropping litter that ruins our beautiful parks and open spaces.

"We have many bins on the open space and surrounding area for residents to use.

"We do take this anti-social behaviour very seriously and tackle it head-on by issuing on the spot fines and/or prosecuting anyone found guilty of littering offences.”