Lucy AshtonSouth Yorkshire political reporter
BBCThe building of a new community hub at a South Yorkshire park is months behind schedule due to vandals repeatedly breaking in, volunteers have said.
Adwick Community and Sports Centre in Doncaster received almost £500,000 in funding from various grants to improve park facilities, but said it had been left with no further money to replace stolen materials.
Thieves have graffitied inside the pavilion building, smashed park gates with stolen machinery and wrecked new cricket facilities.
“We are desperately trying to get it finished but so far we have lost about a £100,000 in damages and stolen materials,” volunteer Richard Simmons said.
“We just can’t sustain this because we’re a charity.”
He continued: “It’s quite distressing when you think about what we are trying to achieve for the community.”
The community group now has a security firm patrolling the location and is fundraising for improved CCTV cameras.
“Most recently they got in over the fence and managed to start a piece of construction equipment,” Mr Simmons said.
“They smashed their way straight through the steel gates then drove it through Adwick and abandoned it.”
Adwick Community Centre“We spent about £2,000 to have a new cricket wicket and that very night they came around with motorbikes and ploughed it all up,” he said.
“We have ended up buying the materials that have been stolen as the insurance is no longer covering them.”
South Yorkshire Police said it was aware of incidents at the location and has increased neighbourhood patrols and offered crime prevention advice.
“The work should have been completed about a year ago,” Mr Simmons added.
“We could really do with some help from local tradesmen and more funding – the difficulty we have is the longer it stays half built, the more vandalism there’s going to be.”
