Needles and excrement have been found in picturesque gardens next to a town centre school – putting the health of students at risk, it is claimed.
Abbey Gardens, next to the Wakeman School, has become populated with at least seven vagrants and a recent tidy-up found piles of litter, excrement and evidence of people urinating on steps in the gardens.
Now local police officers have warned that the gardens may have to be fenced off or locked if a solution cannot be found. Representatives from Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council, Pride in Shrewsbury, the Local Policing Team and staff from the school have met to discuss the issue, with police pledging to increase the number of patrols in the area.
Pride in Shrewsbury officials are planning to plant three prickly bushes in the gardens to discourage such activity.
The school has also been given a plot of land in the gardens which they will look after themselves after it was reported that a number of the children were throwing litter out of the school windows.
Gillian Burvill, Pride in Shrewsbury co-ordinator for the borough council, said: “This is a real cause for concern, not least because it is happening right next to a school and is putting children’s health under threat.”
Kate Brown, member of staff at the school, said: “This has been a problem for a while. However, with the help of the borough council and the fact that we have now been given a plot of land to improve the area, we hope to discourage the vagrants from sleeping here.”
Sergeant Darren Smith, from the Local Policing Team, said: “The problem is that the area is well hidden from the road and if we move the vagrants on, they will just move into a new area or will return there after the police have gone.
“If it continues to be a problem then we will have to think about fencing the area off or lock the gates.”
By James Pugh.