A COUNCILLOR has promised to look into the council’s complaints sys-tem after a report of fly-tipping was not acted upon for more than three weeks.

A sofa, cushions and bedding were dumped behind the potting shed in Roe Lee Park and were found by Maurice Ffelan, a member of the Friends of Roe Lee Park, who reported it to the council by email.

But the rubbish rem-ained and vandals tore up the dumped furnishings and threw them around the play area, leaving the entire park a mess.

Jason Walker, chairman of the Friends of Roe Lee Park, said: “It was prob-ably just kids messing about but it’s such a shame because if something was done about it sooner, it wouldn’t have been this bad.

“The council said that they didn’t get the email but myself and other friends and members had told local councillors at a ward meeting so I’m sure that somebody knew about it. It’s just maddening because the mess ended up being so much worse.”

The friends group meets regularly to maintain the park and keep it clean. The working party meets once a month but it has previously met every two weeks to ensure the park is kept to a high standard.

Mr Ffelan said: “Nat-urally we feel saddened and frustrated when people go out of their way to mess up our pleasant little park.

“For the most part, we do not have a great deal of trouble from anti-social behaviour in the park.

“I had reported the rubbish but I pointed out that it was out of public view and perhaps therefore not a priority in the run up to Easter.

“Unfortunately, vandals got at it, probably on Easter Monday, and the resulting mess was reported on Tuesday.

“It was cleared by a team from Corporation Park yesterday which was pretty impressive given the difficulties of picking up synthetic cotton wool.”

Roe Lee councillor Phil Riley praised the efforts of the group, and said: “The work that the friends group do and how they are keeping the park tidy is something to be commended.

“When you’re relying on volunteers to do so much hard work and they do it as well as the friends group, we really need to respond quicker.

“It’s clear that the council did not act swiftly enough in this instance and I will be looking into the initial complaint.”