Resort protesters attack moves to abolish park ranger service

The Yorkshire coast’s two-man council park ranger service narrowly escaped the axe last year, and now faces being palmed off to the voluntary sector.

But the idea of pensioning off the staff and their vehicle to save £45,000 is out to further public consultation after being widely condemned as penny-pinching.

The Scarborough-based ranger service has enjoyed years of success purging the seaside town’s public gardens of yobs and helping rough sleepers,

It was spared last year after protests that the service partly paid for itself by cutting vandalism. A review panel announced much broader consultation with the wider community.

Scarborough Council’s Cabinet will consider the future of the service on February 15. In the count down to the decision 400 people have signed a petition, calling for another reprieve.

Petition organiser and the chairman of Friends of Raincliffe Woods John Bradley argued scrapping the service would be a false economy.

He said: “I hope the council will now consider this properly and look at what we have to lose if the rangers go.

“Only recently there was an all night party going on in the woodland and four trees were vandalised.

“It is a regular thing which goes on night and day.”

There were also fears that fly-tipping, hooliganism, and vandalism will increase in beauty spots and open spaces without the ranger team.

Mr Bradley did not believe the decision makers fully understood the impact the park rangers had.

He added: “Their presence itself is a deterrent and we feel if the council gets rid of them they will only realise when it is too late.”

Mr Bradley has condemned the move as short sighted, maintaining any short-term savings will be off-set by problems encountered in the long run.

Coun Janet Jefferson, Cabinet member for tourism, said: “As a member of Scarborough in Bloom I work very closely with the parks department and know about the valid work that the park rangers do.

“I will endeavour to do my best to bring a successful outcome.”

But she also underlined that service was under threat because of the need to balance the council’s books due to financial pressures.

As reported by the Yorkshire Post, when Cabinet last looked at the situation a report stated that while the service performed valuable work, the present approach did not provide the best value-for-money.

Coun Tim Lawn, who led the review team, said: “The park rangers are clearly valued by the local community and demonstrate a commendable ‘can do’ approach to resolving problems on behalf of the community.

“But we feel that the overall staffing structure of which they are a part does not represent the most efficient and effective way of delivering their service.

“We believe it should address how to liaise better with partner and community organisations to increase community involvement in our parks and open spaces and across council services, including the introduction of a volunteer ranger scheme.”

Scarborough Council launched the scheme eight years ago to patrol the areas for yobs between 2pm and 11pm. Just two rangers are employed, working split shifts, and one is always at the end of an advertised mobile phone number.

The park rangers have a total of 44 parks, gardens and open spaces to patrol regularly. There are also a few other locations which they visit on an ad hoc basis such as Robin Hoods Bay, Hairy Bob’s Skate Park, and the villages of Muston and Flixton.

Their role includes links with community groups and schools,