COUNCIL chiefs have vowed to track down the vandals who have tried to spoil ongoing improvements to a play park and have urged local people to help by reporting the culprits.

Hartlepool Borough Council is in the process of making £550,000 of improvements to Rossmere Park, including the creation of a new toddler play area, a junior play area with facilities including a Sutu interactive ball wall, a covered events area in the centre of the park and a car park.

However, over the past few days youths have damaged the new Sutu wall by throwing stones and bricks at it. New plants were pulled out and seeded areas were damaged by being walked and cycled over and a large amount of litter – including empty energy drink cans and sweet wrappers – was strewn around the park.

Tony Hanson, the council’s assistant director, said: “This is appalling - a small minority are trying to spoil things for everyone else.

“Several years of work went into planning this project and obtaining grant funding for it and we won’t let these hooligans wreck things.

“We will track down and take action against the culprits. We will be sharing our CCTV footage with the Police and together with the Police we’re following up eyewitness information and descriptions of the culprits and stepping up patrols in the area."

The Hartlepool Community Safety Team can be contacted on 01429 523100.