It has cost Maitland ratepayers $10,000 to restore some land at Aberglasslyn that was vandalised.
Council said officers discovered a number of felled and ringbarked trees on some land adjacent to Weblands Street, as well as dangerously constructed jumps and structures with a significant amount of rubbish littering the site, including in the small pond.
Council has had to rectify the damage by excavating and levelling the tracks and clearing up the rubbish and damage which has come at a $10,000 cost.
Council’s Group Manager Planning & Environment, Matt Prendergast said the damage was terrible.
“The impact of this vandalism is threefold – safety, impact to the environment and the cost to the community,
“While it might seem like a bit of fun to those who did this, the broken stumps next to the tracks, loose metal sheeting of structures and constructed obstacles posed a significant danger to anyone that might have fallen off a bike around them. Council has a duty of care to the community to fix the damage and dispose of the materials.
“The damage was inflicted on a part of the site which has Endangered Ecological Community (EEC) status due to the presence of remnants of a state listed Lower Hunter Spotted Gum Ironbark Forest, so the unauthorised clearing of trees in the space is particularly harmful given the species’ risk of extinction,” said Matt Prendergast.
Council added that this is not the only recent incident at the Weblands Street site, with bollards at the boundary between the open space and vegetated areas ripped out and another partially removed, creating an access point for vehicles.