'Parents of under-age drinkers who leave broken glass all over Harborough parks should be forced to clear it up' says angry councillor

The parents of youngsters who scatter broken bottles and smashed glass all over a popular park in a Harborough village should be forced to clear up the “dangerous” mess, a councillor is demanding.

Cllr Kevin Feltham is hitting the warpath after a wave of anti-social behaviour in Kibworth Beauchamp – as well as in adjoining Kibworth Harcourt – over the last few weeks.

He blasted “idiots” who left a trail of shattered glass across Warwick Park at the weekend as he blamed a serious bout of under-age drinking for the trouble.

Cllr Feltham hit out as Harborough police also implored parents to stop their “kids” behaving badly after officers were kept at full stretch tackling serious incidents.

“This whole situation is just getting mad now. People in Kibworth are sick and fed-up of schoolkids and youths drinking too much and leaving a load of broken glass over Warwick Park,” insisted Cllr Feltham, a Conservative county councillor for Gartree.

“Enough is enough.

“These idiots are turning the children’s play area at Warwick Park into a no go zone for youngsters.

“Older teenagers are going there on a Friday night and across the weekend and drinking far too much.

“There were 80-90 there late on Friday night.

“They leave vodka bottles, beer bottles and cans all over the place.

“It’s bonkers, it’s dangerous and it’s totally unacceptable,” said Cllr Feltham, who has lived in Kibworth over 45 years.

“This is the worst I’ve ever known it in all the time I’ve been here.

“A child tripped up and fell down in the long grass and unfortunately they badly hurt themselves on jagged glass.

“I’ve heard about a poor dog which has glass embedded so deep in its paw that the vet’s can’t get it out.

“This is totally intolerable.

“We have to work much more closely with the police to stamp out this madness.

“How are the kids getting their hands on so much booze in the first place?

“The police in Derbyshire make the parents of the idiots who leave broken glass and rubbish strewn all over villages and towns go and clear it up.

“We should do the same here,” said Cllr Feltham.

“One of our parish councillors, Caroline Pitcher, does a fantastic job going out to pick up bag after bag of this rubbish the next morning.

“But why should she and other volunteers have to do that in their own time?

“We should be making the parents clear up after their kids.

“And it might make them do far more to stop them getting up to no good in our parks and on our streets full stop.”

A new litter bin at Smeeton Road Recreation Ground in Kibworth was also vandalised with graffiti at the weekend.

Urging parents to step up, Harborough Police said: “Parents, you really need to know what your kids are doing.

“Police spent most of the night between parks again.

“Alcohol is coming from somewhere.

“It can’t be just shops.

“We’ve been told it was mostly Year 10 pupils.

“But Year 11 were celebrating end of exams.

“Where were your young ones last night?

“We cannot rely on volunteers to clean this mess up.

“You can use the parks, just use them with respect to others.

“We can’t keep sending officers to parks at night when people need us elsewhere.

“When we are here, we are not with them.”