Onerahi Community Association chairman Nick Connop described the fish hooks incident as a "senseless act".
Onerahi Community Association chairman Nick Connop described the fish hooks incident as a "senseless act".
The president of the Onerahi Playcentre says hundreds of fish hooks planted in a playground is one of several unpleasant incidents since a skatepark was opened there only weeks ago.
The fish hooks were discovered after a boy got one stuck in his foot on Wednesday afternoon. Local community membersand Whangarei District staff picked up hundreds of hooks believed to have been deliberately laced throughout the bark under the play equipment.
Playcentre president Sandy Hatherell, who also manages a before-school programme in the community building adjacent to Sherwood Park, said many children in the neighbourhood used the playground and park every day.
Ms Hatherell said it was unfortunate that a facility designed to benefit local children was attracting an undesirable element. There had been a rise in bad behaviour, litter and even people urinating among trees at the park since the upgraded skateboard ramp was re-opened last month, she said.
She believed Whangarei District Council had not "thought through" the upgrade project. While it had attracted people back to the park, no extra lighting had been installed, the nearest public toilets were at the shopping centre along the road, there was no security camera and sometimes no rubbish bin at the park because bins were regularly vandalised.
But Whangarei District Council is smarting from such barbs after spending $110,000 doing up the formerly derelict playground and unsafe skate ramp, both of which had been subjected to serious vandalism in the past.
Parks and Recreation manager Paul McDonald said the fish hook incident was disturbing but was due to one "sick" person.
It was disappointing it had cast a negative pall over the kind of park and playground many communities would love to have, he said.
The council has received a lot of positive feedback from those who used the new equipment and other people, Mr McDonald said.
Residents, businesses and organisations as well as the council needed to "keep an eye out" to ensure facilities designed to enhance a local area could be safely enjoyed, he said.
The park's other facilities would be assessed and possibly upgraded in the next round of funding due in July.
