A small gang of young people have been making lives a misery for people trading, shopping and living around The Square Shopping Precinct on the Lichfield Road, New Invention reports Liberal Democrat Councillor for Willenhall North Ian Shires.

Over the last couple of days things have got out of hand and have spilled over onto the Community Green opposite The Square. Those involved have ripped out two of the poles from the kick rail which surrounds the green. They then used these poles to inflict criminal damage on a youth shelter and a disused Roman Catholic Church hut on the edge of the green.

“This group are totally out of control” said Councillor Shires who today met with officers of the council to draw up an action plan to tackle this latest bought of mindless wanton destruction of public property. The plan will be measured to fit the scale of the damage and disruption caused. “This latest incident is is being treated very seriously by all the Agencies involved, which includes the Police, Walsall Housing Group as well as Walsall Council.” said Ian. Some of the measures include the use of  Acceptable Behavior Contracts which can include curfews with links to Community Protection Notices and Community Protection Warnings.

Summing up Councillor Shires said “The sad part in all of this is the feeling of being let down. Earlier this year the youth shelter was repaired following meetings with young people in the area and the Council’s Youth Service. The plan was that if they could prove that they could be trusted and respect the shelter then a bid would be made to replace it with a larger purpose built shelter. This weeks madness means that that all goes by the board now and because of their actions the damaged shelter will probably be removed.”