A project to put up fencing around a field in Grangetown to provide a safe space for the local community and events has been abandoned due to repeated attacks by vandals.

Redcar and Cleveland Council had committed £59,151 towards the scheme at Kingsley Field, which is next to Greystone woods, with community organisation You’ve Got This adding £40,000.

An update for members of the local authority’s growth scrutiny committee said that all the stakeholders involved had agreed to abort the project due to high levels of anti-social behaviour and vandalism.

Potential new sites for fencing panels which were engineered and bought with the funding and which are still in storage are now being explored.

The scheme had been paused for several months previously following a number of incidents which included eight fence panels and a ‘K’ barrier being cut down and stolen.

A large CCTV column was also targeted with the access panel being sawn open and an internal control board set on fire, causing more than £30,000 worth of damage.

The boundary for the fencing was then re-drawn, so not to fence off the whole field, but just a section, with a notice board being erected to keep locals up to date with developments, but that too was ripped down.

Residents have complained of motorbikes and quad vehicles being driven onto the green space, endangering children, with a local junior football team also forced to move on as a result.

Grangetown ward councillor Adam Brook said: “We have been working for the last 12 months to see how we could still make the project successful.

“We re-started installation in September and exactly the same thing happened – we had a meeting and the outcome was that we decided to abandon it due to the cost and size of the project.

“We put a notice board up to advertise what we were doing – literally it was installed at 10am in the morning and then cut down at 9pm at night.

“I wanted to safeguard the materials we have got – we have got just shy of 600 metres [of fencing] left, the large majority – and didn’t want to install that also for it to be ripped out and disappear.

“We are in talks to identify other locations in the ward first,  but we’ll also look at Greater Eston to see where the fencing can be utilised.”

Cllr Brook suggested organised crime used the field as an access route for their activities.

He said: “We were hoping with a 12 month pause that the minority causing the damage may have moved on, but it just became evident that they were going to keep coming back and leaving a clear message.”

The ward councillor and council cabinet member said the outcome was “very disappointing and upsetting” and “we have to take it on the chin”.

He said: “We have worked with many community groups and held an event on the field that was very successful and intended to highlight how valuable the space was, and engage with people to see what they wanted going forward.

“It’s very disheartening, but it’s one of those things and you have to weigh things up when it is continually being targeted.

“We tried, but it hasn’t been successful.

“We can’t continue to waste money and haemorrhage it.” 

Cllr Brook said the original funding criteria would still need to be satisfied and it was not just a case of identifying another piece of land to potentially fence off and create something from, there had to be a purpose to it.

Contractors involved in the project had also been paid and could be redirected elsewhere.

He added: “One of the things I am interested in is fencing outside Grangetown library to provide an events space.

“There’s also land at the side of the Grangetown United community hub, which could be potentially fenced off to enhance the boxing there as they do a lot of outdoor exercise, and there are other venues we could look to.

“The You’ve Got This money was to predominantly get more people active and fit within the community and that is something we are keen to look at.”