Shacks discovered in Rinaldo Road Park

SEVERAL shacks have been discovered in the thick bushes surrounding Rinaldo Road Park and Ryde Place. Chairman of the Greenwood Park CPF, Robin Candy, said while the issue is not new, there had been an increase in the number of people living in the bushes. A green belt surrounding the park is being used by vagrants and possibly criminals.

On Thursday, Northglen News walked through the bushes surrounding the park with Candy and spotted at least six informal dwellings. Candy said some of the vagrants living in the bushes had resorted to removing the wooden posts from the park’s parking area to build fires.

“Residents are concerned about this because every night they see fires and smoke billowing out of the top of the park. They are concerned this could start a blaze. In the past 11 years, I’ve seen about 50 dwellings but of late there has been an increase in the number of people using the park.”

What’s more, residents fear that the value of their properties could plummet.

Candy said there had been several break-ins in and around homes and complexes on Rinaldo Road which may be linked to some of the men living in the bushes.

“We’ve found some of the discarded stolen items strewn around the paths in the bushes. We’ve found the remnants of copper cables as well. Some of them trespass and fence hop looking for something easy to steal. I cannot say all vagrants are criminals there is a criminal element using vagrancy in the area as a cloak. I fear this may even lead to a large scale land invasion,” Candy said.

Ward councillor, Pete Graham, said he too had received complaints from residents in the area.