COUNCILLORS are wondering whether shelling out money on locking the gates at night in Wellington Park is worth it when all the vandalism that occurs there takes place under the cover of darkness.

The discussion came during Wellington Town Council’s environment committee meeting on April 23 when councillors asked about having CCTV installed to try and catch the vandals on camera.

The council’s chief executive and town clerk Dave Farrow said it could potentially cost the authority in the region of £30,000 a year to lock the park gates each night.

But he added: “We lock the park at night and all the vandalism happens at night. We need to look at the security and CCTV.

“Perhaps the money we spend on locking up the park at night could be better spent on CCTV cameras?”

The shelter at Wellington Park is continually getting vandalised and the council’s open spaces manager Darren Hill said that to give it a substantial makeover would cost between £6,000 and £8,000.

But he said: “I think that would be throwing good money after bad if we spent that amount of money, but we could do something for around £700.”

Cllr Mark Lithgow said: “I’ve lived in Wellington for 40-odd years and vandalism at the shelter has been going on for 40-odd years and I’m sure it was going on before that as well.

“I wouldn’t be happy to spend up to £8,000 on the shelter. The moment we repair it, the vandals will trash it.”

Cllr Lithgow said he would be interested in supporting some sort of CCTV security installed.

Councillors agreed for £700 to be spent on paint and repairs to the shelter timber and remove the glazing which was continually vandalised.

They also approved £120 having already been spent on paint to cover up offensive graffiti which had been daubed in the park.