Residents hit out as vandal-hit 'bandstand' in Hartlepool park is removed by council bosses

The covered events space was installed more than two years ago in Rossmere Park as part of an improvement project led by Hartlepool Borough Council.

But the structure, referred to as “the bandstand” by locals, was recently dismantled and taken away by officials following vandalism to the canopy roof.

The council says it was left with no option as the cost of regular repairs and replacing it was unsustainable.

Rossmere resident Peter Joyce says users of the park warned the council of the risk of vandalism, particularly due to its canopy roof.

He now believes the landfill tax money which funded it should be returned.

Mr Joyce said: “We did object to it being put up at the time because we knew what was going to happen to it and low and behold this is what happened. It got vandalised.”

A council spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, the canopy of the covered events area has been the victim of regular vandalism and we received a petition from residents raising concern at the number of young people climbing on it.

“Unfortunately, we have been left with no option but to remove the canopy for safety reasons and we have also removed the support frame as the cost of regular repairs and replacement was unsustainable.

“Several years of work went into planning this project and obtaining grant funding for it and it is so sad that the behaviour of a small minority of people has had this effect.”

The covered events area was put in the park by the council in 2019 as part of £550,000 of improvements which also included a new toddler play area, a junior play area and a car park.

Mr Joyce said residents previously lobbied for it to have a flat metal roof although it was instead given a thin triangular cone canopy covering.

Within weeks it suffered damage by youths climbing on it.

Mr Joyce said residents were previously told the roof would be replaced.

But a number of weeks ago the whole structure was taken down.

Mr Joyce added: "It has upset a lot of people. There was no consultation about what could be done or anything, it just disappeared.

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