Concerns raised over an increase in anti-social behaviour at a South Shields park

Councillors have voiced their worries over issues such as “speeding” off-road bikes, trees being cut down and underage youngsters gathering to drink alcohol at Temple Memorial Park.

The issues were raised following an update from Northumbria Police chiefs to the latest meeting of West Shields, Cleadon and East Boldon Community Area Forum (CAF) on Thursday (February 29).

Councillor Doreen Purvis, who represents the Whiteleas ward, said she has been contacted by residents who have numerous concerns about antisocial behaviour at the site.

She said: “Not only the motorbikes using it as a speed track, but also the fact that there are kids chopping down trees, they’ve made a den.”

Paul Freeman, of the Temple Memorial Park Friends voluntary group, said such issues have been an “ongoing thing for years”, which he has reported “many times”, and young people often attend in groups for “drinking parties”.

Meanwhile councillor David Herbert, Cleadon and East Boldon ward representative, also raised concerns around off-road motorbikes in Temple Park and on the roads around it.

He called for action to be taken by police over the antisocial behaviour and urged officers to use drones to track and follow the offenders.

Constable Darren Lough, Northumbria Police representative at the meeting, said a newly set up motorcycle disorder taskforce has a drone which they deploy in “hotspot” areas, and the concerns would be fed back to the team and officers covering the park.

Reports from police submitted to the CAF state they work in partnership with the local authority to identify and prosecute offenders and have vehicles uplifted where possible. 

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They added the motorcycle taskforce has “both a proactive and reactive posture and will carry out a range of tasks to reduce this antisocial behaviour type and have had good success” to date.

This has led to a drop in relation to motorcycle disorder in the CAF area for the two months from December 23 and February 18 in comparison to the previous period.

Meanwhile, Northumbria Police is having an operation called Capio regarding motorcycle disorder in March, with officers urging anyone with information on off-road bikes, including where they are stored and any descriptions, to come forward.

People can report incidents of nuisance motorbike riders to police at https://www.northumbria.police.uk/ as well as by calling 101 and asking for the information to be passed to the motorcycle disorder team.