OVER the last few months, I, a local resident and park user, have noticed the rapid deterioration of Tyldesley Park on Astley Street.

Youths now run amok in the park, drinking and drug taking, smashing bottles, breaking the newly installed lighting, rubbish bins and youth shelters, lighting fires every night, stealing wheeliebins from local houses (climbing into gardens them over walls in many cases.) The police do not respond when called as theft of wheeliebins and trespass into gardens is not in their own words "a priority," the Fire Brigade now have a key to the park gates as they have to visit so often.

The cost of replacing the wheeliebins, the Fire Brigade visits, the repairs to the lighting, bins and shelters in the park, must now be considerable. Bare in mind as council tax payers, we are all paying for the damage these youths cause.

The park is no longer safe for parents to take toddlers or for dog owners to walk their dogs because of the amount of broken glass and burnt refuse. Local residents are intimidated after dark by these young thugs. Elderly residents are getting up at 6am to put their dustbins out on collection day as it is no longer safe to put the bin out the night before. A small number of youths are ruining the park for the majority of users, the park is now a grubby eyesore which will require considerable investment by Wigan Council to address.

Do the residents of Tyldsley and Astley really want to lose the park? Surely the cost of repair and tidying up after these thugs will eventually be so high it would be better to sell the land for yet another housing estate rather than maintaining the last of the remaining park in the local area for youths to take over and treat as their own campsite.

Or do local residents want a park to be proud of once again? That everyone can use and everyone will respect? If this is what the readers want then I suggest they write to the Council, to their councillors and MPs and tell them that's what they want. Remember we pay Council Tax to Wigan and we vote for councillors - make it count!

Worried Resident,

Astley