Caversham neighbours anti social behaviour anger at fields

The anti-social behaviour (ASB), which also involved smashed glass and littering, has occurred at the Mapledurham Playing Fields (MPF) in Caversham Heights.

In one recent incident, boys and girls aged 15-16 were making noise and believed to be drinking alcohol and taking drugs.

Neighbours who approached the group asking them to reduce the noise were met with verbal abuse.

The incident took place last weekend, between 7pm and 10.30pm on Saturday, June 7.

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In another alarming incident during the last weekend of April, a group of teens smashed glass and left litter, boys fought each other and a girl reportedly got drunk on vodka she had to be attended to by councillor Isobel Ballsdon (Conservative, Caversham Heights).

The incidents were reported to the police by neighbours.

Martin Brommell, a member the Warren and District Residents Association (WADRA) has argued upgrades to MPF has attracted ASB which never existed before in the area.

Mr Brommell explained: “You’ve now got lighting from the tennis club, the pavilion and the school and what’s that’s done is attracted youths that we’ve not really had before who are now using the new children’s play area as their meeting ground on a Friday and Saturday night.

“You start hearing music get louder and louder as the evening pounds on.

Light coming from the Mapledurham Playing Fields pavilion. Credit: Martin Brommell, Warren & District Residents Association

“You find all the beer cans and the broken bottles of glass the next day, which the residents have to pick up.

“It’s a ready made area for them to meet because they’ve got light from all the buildings, they’ve got somewhere to sit, where they smoke weed.

“When neighbours tell them to stop they get a load of abuse.”

He added youths have vandalised trees and painted the pavilion with graffiti.

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In response to the ASB incidents, Thames Valley Police has patrols will be ramped up patrols in the area.

Inspector Sarah Sanderson, of the Reading Neighbourhood Team, said: “The Neighbourhood Policing Team in Caversham continue to carry out preventative work in order to minimise ASB in the area.

“We have put targeted patrols in areas that have previously had high levels of ASB, and are planning pro-active activity to take place over the school holidays and other times when it is more likely that anti-social behaviour is to take place.

“Further to this we have worked hard with the local authority to address why certain areas may have more anti-social behaviour reported in order to reduce ASB in those areas.

“Officers may not always be able to attend the incident at the time of the report, but we continue to encourage the public to report ASB incidents to police as it helps to build up a picture of what is happening in our local communities and we can take appropriate action.

”Reports can be made via 101 or our online reporting service.”