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Vandals strike at polytunnel used by Banbury Community Support Service
13/02/2024
The Friend of Redlands charity will have to foot the bill for repairs
Around £2,500 worth of damage has been caused to a polytunnel in the garden area of Banbury Community Support Service in Neithrop Avenue.
The area is used by residents and carers for activities such as creating hanging baskets, which are then sold to raise funds.
An intruder got into the polytunnel and slashed sections of the structure’s plastic. Items inside were smashed. This was spotted and reported to police on January 24.
Further damage was caused when the garden was visited the following night.
The building was formerly known as the Redlands Centre.
The Friends of Redlands – a registered charity – look after the garden and work hard to raise money for the centre. They recently secured a grant to revamp other parts of the garden. Now they must find the cash needed to repair the polytunnel.
David Hedderly is from the Friends of Redlands. He said: “It’s really aggravating that people can just go somewhere, specifically a place where handicapped people go to enjoy the gardens, and just trash anything in front of them. They have no regard for the community and they are part of that community. It’s just mind boggling that this sort of thing can happen in this day and age.”
This was the latest in a series of break-ins to the polytunnel in the garden area. On this occasion it happened at the same time as the support service was celebrating its 56th birthday.
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam