A NEW play park should be ripped out because it is a magnet for vandals, arsonists, drug addicts and underage drinkers, says a furious resident.

Chris Spruce wants £30,000 of new play equipment removed from opposite his home in Great Oaty Gardens Park, Warndon Villages, Worcester.

The old play equipment was taken out by Worcester City Council and replaced with new state-of-the art equipment a fortnight ago in a different part of the park.

Mr Spruce says the move has simply shifted the focus of anti-social behaviour from one side of the park to the other.

He has already found beer cans, bottles, takeaway packets and has taken photographs of the charred boundary posts after vandals tried to set them on fire.

The park, which includes a basketball court, a tyre swing, a roundabout and a climbing frame, is now just 20 to 30 metres away from where it was before.

The new equipment was installed as part of the council's £100,000 refurbishment programme for three parks, including the Lyppard Grange Play area and Ribble Close in Ronkswood.

Mr Spruce, aged 46, said: "Two years ago I was on a committee fighting to have the play equipment removed. There were broken vodka bottles and sick on the slide. I will do anything to get this new equipment moved.

"Because the park is surrounded by trees it gives the youths the feeling that they can't be seen when they're committing acts of vandalism, drinking and drug-taking.

Mr Spruce campaigned as the head of local resident committee and attended three to four meetings in the Lyppard Grange Community Centre with at least 20 residents, police and parish councillors where he says a consensus was achieved to remove the equipment, not replace it.

Warndon parish councillor John Buckley said: "I feel quite sorry for the residents and I was shocked to find out what Worcester City Council had done. They have not resolved the problem at all and they haven't listened to the residents."

A spokesman for Worcester City Council said its play strategy outlined the need for all children to have close access to high quality play areas.

Mike Harrison, the council's head of cleaner and greener, said: "From our point of view it's good news - we're giving people a brand new facility. You can't punish all the children because some people are abusing the equipment."

A spokesman for police said they had advised the city council to move the original equipment because it was too near people's homes and this had been done, in accordance with their guidelines.