Toilets at popular Chesterfield park closed after attack by vandals – with council appealing for witnesses

Chesterfield residents are being asked for their help to find vandals who have damaged furniture and public toilets at a popular park.
By Tom Hardwick
Published 24th Jun 2022, 14:39 BST
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The incident, which took place on the evening of Thursday, June 23, has also seen extensive areas of Holmebrook Valley Park coved in broken glass and litter. The pavilion also appears to have been broken into, with the fire alarm being activated by vandals and the fire extinguisher being discharged.

Chesterfield Borough Council is now working with Derbyshire Constabulary to identify those responsible for the vandalism and is appealing for visitors to the park to come forward if they have any further information.

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The toilets will be closed over the weekend while repairs are carried out.

Facilities at Holmebrook Valley Park were hit by vandals last night.Facilities at Holmebrook Valley Park were hit by vandals last night.
Facilities at Holmebrook Valley Park were hit by vandals last night.

This comes after the toilets were vandalised in April – forcing the council to revise future opening hours of the facilities.

Dispensers and driers were ripped off the walls and doors torn off the hinges.

Shaun Morley, Chesterfield Borough Council’s head of community safety and regulatory services, said: “The vast majority of people enjoy our parks responsibly, but unfortunately a small minority act in a reckless way, which will impact on other people being able to use our parks and facilities – as well as costing public money to repair the damage.

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“Our dedicated team spend a considerable amount of time and effort maintaining our parks so that they can be used by our communities. As a result of this incident, we will now have to bring in additional staff and resources to deal with this and it takes staff away from works that need attending to elsewhere.

“If you have any information about who damaged these toilets, please get in touch as soon as possible so they can be held accountable for their actions.”

Derbyshire Constabulary has put a dispersal order in place for the park, which means groups of people will not be able to congregate in the park and they will be dispersed if they do so. Additional presence from both the police and council enforcement staff will be in place over the weekend.

Anyone who has any information about the damage should report it as soon as possible by speaking to a member of staff in the park or emailing [email protected] or calling 01246 345345.

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