Party park mess infuriates resident

A PARTY held at the football grounds on Blackburn Road has earned the ire of local residents after it was left in an appalling mess. Park Hill resident, Arge Nienhueser, said.  What’s more the grounds were flooded, littered with rubbish and beer bottles the next morning, and there were tyre marks left around the ground as some attendees took to doing ‘doughnuts’ on the field.

“It all started with a burst pipe which left the grounds soaking wet. The water was actually sitting on top of the grass. It was clear, drinkable water and it was being wasted. On top of that the ground was used for some sort of party later that day. Rubbish was dumped everywhere and the tyre skidding on the field just ripped up the soggy pitch which is just appalling,” he said.

Nienheuser questioned whether there was a policy in place for the organisers to be held responsible.

“This is not fair, especially for the people who use the ground to play football. The organisers should clean up afterwards,” said the irate resident.

His calls were echoed by Durban North ward councillor, Shaun Ryley, who described the situation as ‘unacceptable’.

“It is unacceptable that those making use of public spaces can be so negligent and leave the area in such a poor state of disarray. It was clear that vehicles had been driven onto an already soggy pitch and ripped up the turf by doing wheel spins and ‘doughnuts’. This is an incident akin to that experienced at Blue Lagoon a few weeks ago.

“The culprits need to be held to account for this and if they cannot be traced then event organisers should be fined. Irresponsible behaviour such as this creates a burden on the city coffers

“This is ratepayers’ money which could be put to better use. Those who wish to hire facilities should be made to pay a refundable deposit that will be forfeited if the area is not left in a suitable condition,” Ryley said.