COWDENBEATH Councillor Darren Watt has been angered by what he has described as yet more disrespectful and senseless vandalism at the town’s World War One memorial at the public park.

And Community Council chairman, Alex Haddow, was blazing at the desecration caused by black pens on the memorial that can be seen from High Street.

Councillor Watt said: “I was absolutely astonished to see senseless graffiti scrawled on to the monument itself.

“Cleary those guilty of such a stupid act clearly have no understanding of the sacrifices made by those brave men from the town. Worse still, they perhaps do and simply couldn’t care less.

“Either way, the continuous contempt shown by such individuals must stop and I will be urging Fife Council’s Safer Communities Team and the local police to once again step up their efforts and patrol this area on a regular basis.”

And Cllr Watt continued: “It’s not just the graffiti, there is broken glass all around and it is apparent a bottle has been thrown against the monument at some point.

“Also, a neighbour’s fence has been vandalised. Each of their fence panels, which are adjacent to the memorial site, has been damaged.

“The other councillors for the ward and I have previously discussed this with our Community Manager and I will ensure any agreed actions such as tree trimming are now followed up without delay.

“Other options to deter these ignorant and destructive individuals from going up there will now be further explored.”

Alex Haddow said: “This is totally needless.

“I know that there have been problems with groups of youngsters congregating at the park but this senseless vandalism is something we could do without.

“This is the 100th year since the Great War ended and it is totally wrong that this sort of desecration should be happening at any time far less in this historic year.”

There have been a lot of recurring problems at the park. Said one of the residents whose home backs on to the park: “I stay right next to the park and am appalled by what’s happening and nobody seems to care. Every week the crowd has got bigger, it’s now went from 20 to over 100 kids and riot vans are here all the time.

“Surely it’s time to do something about it when it’s affecting the whole community in that area! Moving them down a bit just causes a steady stream of drunk kids screaming at night as they walk up and down past the houses annoying everyone until they decide to go home”.

Community Inspector Gavin Cameron described the actions as ‘despicable’ and will have officers checking the War Memorial site.