Yobs setting fire to basket swing at Spalding’s Ayscoughfee garden park costs South Holland tax payers £23k to repair

Council bosses are being forced to fork out nearly £25,000 to repair a playground after an arson attack.

The playground at Ayscoughfee Hall Museum and Gardens in Spalding is always popular with families but youngsters cannot use one of the swings thanks to the efforts of vandals.

Yobs had set fire to the museum’s basket swing last year — which not only resulted in damaging the equipment but also the expensive flooring.

Now South Holland District Council has had to spend £23,730 on replacing the soft play surfacing around the swing due to this incident. The council says this work is due to get underway in early April with the aim to be ready for Easter.

A council spokesperson said: “It is extremely disappointing when an individual’s mindless actions cause a waste of time and taxpayer money like this, ultimately impacting the enjoyment and play of local families and young people.

“However, we are pleased to now be in a position where work can take place to rectify the damage caused, and have these popular play facilities back to their best in time for Easter.”

The money to repair this damage is being footed by Spalding council tax payers and has come out of the town’s special expenses account.

Carl Holland, who is head of finance, told Tuesday’s Spalding Town Forum meeting that the town’s special expenses account had previously been forecast to save £38,000 but this had now dropped to £21,000.

He told the meeting: “The key movement since quarter 2 we have is Ayscoughfee Leisure capital programme entry relating to £23,000 for repair work to Ayscoughfee grounds that was down to criminal damage.

“Owing to the nature of the surface and environment we have had to stand that cost.”

This is not the first time that Ayscoughfee Hall has been the victim of vandals.

In 2023, the council were forced to close the garden’s toilets - shortly after they were refurbished - to repair the damage caused by yobs who stuck a cone and toilet paper down the loo.

Earlier that year, the council put out a warning following reports of youths in the gardens after closing and birds escaping the aviary following a burglary.

A sign on the Community Mind Matters bench in the gardens had been damaged in 2024.

Members of the town forum were also told that the Special Expenses account had received £809 income from the Lawn Tennis Association along with £15,000 from the cemetery.

Mr Holland also reported £9,000 costs for unexpected tree maintenance at Monkshouse Playing Field along which was ofset by a £1,000 saving on utility bills.

The Spalding special expenses account’s reserves are forecast to stand at £158,965.

Concerns had been raised at the meeting by Coun Liz Sneath that the officers could spend up to £75,000 of those reserves using delegated powers.

Forum chairman Coun Rob Gibson told the meeting that a Spalding town council would need start-up capital.

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