Norfolk village shelter repairs to be funded by parish council

A village shelter is currently fenced off after general wear and tear descended into "mindless vandalism".

Sporle Parish Council are paying for repairs to the shelter which is located outside the school and community centre.

In normal circumstances, parents would usually gather at the shelter to collect their children from school, and it is currently fenced off while the repair work takes place.

Chairman of the parish council Kalvin McLeod said: "It is a lovely building. People would idly kick the plinth, but over the years it has become increasingly unsafe.

"Although it is classed as vandalism, it was a case of when it had already started to show damage, teens came to see what would happen if it fell apart.

"The fact it had not been repaired became apparent to us and that it had become a toy."

The repair work will cost approximately £300 to £500 and a social media post on the Sporle Community page states the repairs are "needed because of mindless vandalism".

Mr McLeod added: "What was wear and tear became vandalism. From my point of view having had it repaired, we should then hopefully see that stop.

"I would not say the vandalism has been horrendous so far. There is more worry over kids setting fire to it."

Councillor John Rodwell said the fencing originally put up was being moved so the council “acted promptly” to ensure the repair work can be carried out swiftly.

Mr Rodwell added: “We did not want it coming down and injuring someone.

“We just realised it had been vandalised, and as a parish council we put our heads together for emergency repairs. There will be mums waiting in the rain so we thought we can’t let that happen. Vandalism, it happens, but I can’t say exactly when it was.”

Shirley Gooch, caretaker at the community centre, said: "It's been like that for some time. Kids are always up to something as they do."