A BRAND new £75,000 play park has been vandalised with graffiti just weeks after it opened.

Hundreds of children have visited the park at Stonards Hill, Epping to use the new facilities, but part of it had to be sectioned off while repairs were carried out to fix the damage to the swings.

Parents and grandparents at the park spoke out angrily about the attack.

Joan Lambell from Coopersale said: "It's a great shame because it's been full of children since it opened.

"People have come from all over to play here. I think it's part of society now, there's no pride in anything from a certain age group.

I would hope that if adults were here and someone started vandalising it then they would say something, but no one want's to these days because they are scared of the repercussions."

Christine Rees, 54 said: "I think they need lamps so people can see the vandals from the road. When you come past in the evening you can't see anything. If they have some sort of light then people in the houses opposite could see and it would put people off vandalising it because you can see what people are up to. It's brand new and it's terrible it's already been vandalised."

Priscilla Agius, 31 from North Weald said teenagers in the area need something else to occupy their time.

She added: "Not so long ago I came here and the police were trying to move on the teenagers and I thought where are they meant to go. If that was my teenager I would rather he was at a park than wondering the streets. I used to live in Leyton where they set fire to the play equipment. Graffiti isn't nice to see but it's not a disaster. If the words were very offensive, that might be different.

“It's going to happen because there's nothing for teenagers to do. They need a youth centre in Epping. They are starting to smash up the bus stops and shop windows. Rather than spend loads of money repairing the vandalism, why not put that money into something for young people."

A spokesman for Epping Town Council was unable to give an estimate for the cost of repairing the damage, but added: “A lot of things get vandalised.”