Egremont Town Council is urging people to do their bit to help protect the town’s castle after a rise in anti-social behaviour.
The castle, which is over 900 years old, has been subject to a spate of serious vandalism and anti-social behaviour over the past six months.
In recent months, volunteers looking after the castle grounds have faced:
- Bins sealed with super glue and building filler, preventing them from being easily emptied
- Plants dug up from their beds and damaged
- Young trees ripped in half and dug up
- Bricks from the castle’s sensory garden pulled out of place
- Ground lights smashed and destroyed
- Holes dug out across the grounds with a spade for bike jump ramps
- Mud bike tracks made across the castle grounds
- Bins being knocked down
Youths have also been reported for throwing objects at cars from the castle grounds, which resulted in Copeland Police attending a serious incident where a woman’s car windscreen was smashed by an object.
The woman had her five-year-old child in the car, and while the pair were unharmed, police said the child was left distressed by what happened.
Police have since increased patrols in the area and have launched an investigation into the anti-social behaviour.
Town council chair Elaine Woodburn said the situation has become a serious cause for concern.
She said: “It has been ongoing issue, but it has definitely escalated in the last six months to now be dangerous and it’s putting people at a risk of being hurt.
“It’s now escalated into throwing things at passing cars, and the last one, whatever they threw went through the windscreen.
“That could end up in someone being killed quite easily and it has got to stop.
“But with some of the damage being done, once it’s gone, it’s gone. That’s our local history that is getting destroyed, so anything we can do to protect it needs to happen.
“It is a scheduled ancient monument, so you can’t just go up and repair it, it needs a professional to do it. So some things actually won’t be repaired, because there is nobody there to do it.”
Elaine said it has been both upsetting and frustrating for volunteers including groups like Friends of Egremont Castle, who give up their free time to look after the space.
She added: “It’s like a kick in the teeth and it does raise the question in your head of why do we bother?
“Why do you bother giving your time for free to help make it nice for people to go in, just for others to wreck it.
“It’s an ongoing battle that we don’t seem to be winning at this moment in time, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to give up.
“But we will continue to do what we can do and we are looking at getting a deterrent.”
The town council have been speaking with police about ways to make the castle grounds safer for the public through the use of CCTV and better lighting.
Elaine said: “We spoke with crime commissioner David Allen and he said that any funding we can get for CCTV and lights they will match fund.
“So what we will be doing initially is we will get advice from the police on how many cameras, lights and what kind we need.
“Once we have that we can then go out and get some quotes and then try look for some funding with that commitment from the police that they will match fund it.”
But for police to take more action, Elaine said they need people to report the issues they are facing in and around the castle grounds.
She added: “We seem to have this culture where people are quite happy to report it on Facebook and make comments on Facebook and on other social media, but not to report it to police.
“But the police work on the number of reports they get, and that dictates where they put additional resources.”
It meant there was extra cash for patrols and since its launch, crime has fallen in those areas.
Elaine said: “So when we met with David Allen, there were these 15 anti-social behaviour hotspots in Cumbria and the castle wasn’t one of them, because it just didn’t have the number of reports in.
“If we don’t start getting incidents recorded, things won’t necessarily change, because it won’t get any additional resources.
“It’s something we need to collectively work together on to resolve, so don’t just walk past and ignore it, just report it.”
Elaine added that the town council also feel the anti-social behaviour is not just a police issue.
She said: “It isn’t just a police problem, it’s families, the schools and community as a whole that have to look at resolving it.
“We have a youth club that has had about £200,000 invested in it and there is facilities around here for them to use, not as many as we’d want, and that’s something I know councillor Sam Pollen is working on with Cumberland Council.
“But even if there wasn’t anything here, it’s no excuse for what they’re doing. Sometimes you can provide services, but you can’t make them go through the door.
“I think increasing the education around the castle would help, because if people understand how long it’s been there and what it’s already gone through, that might increase the respect of it.
“We have a lengthsman scheme where we work with Skills 4 U and we have someone in there two days a week doing maintenance, emptying the bins and trying to keep it presentable.
“We also have Friends of Egremont Castle who help maintain it and hold events there so people can see it is an asset to the town.
“But it will only remain an asset if it is respected and people look after it.”
Egremont Town Council is urging people to report any issues they witness to police.
To report an issue, call police on 101 or report it online here.
Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111 with any information relating to incident.
