Kowhai Park skate bowl clean up to cost Whanganui ratepayers at least $5000

The clean up is under way at the Kowhai Park skate bowl. Photo / Ethan Griffiths

Ratepayers are set to fork out more than just a bit of sawdust for the clean up of an oil spill at Kowhai Park skate bowl, with Whanganui District Council saying the job will absorb a minimum of $5000.

The intentional spill, believed to have been caused by two youths, resulted in both the Kowhai Park skate bowl and the Riverland Family Park race track being covered in waste oil overnight on Sunday.

The oil is alleged to have been taken from the race track after a similar vandalism attack on Friday afternoon. Riverland owner Michael Wilson said he discovered two youths with bottles of oil on the premises on Friday.

A council spokesperson said absorbent material was put on the affected areas on Monday, with a specialist clean up team at the park on Tuesday to remove the oil and take it to an authorised waste treatment site.

While not able to provide a full breakdown of the cost, the spokesperson said the entire clean up will "cost a minimum of $5000 to the ratepayer".

Mayor Hamish McDouall said the "punks" responsible for the damage have taken from others in the community.

"It's extremely disappointing to have to spend that to recondition two very much loved facilities. Both the track and the skate bowl are well used and really great facilities.

"A couple of punks have come in and cost everybody in the community both money and also the ability to use these amenities."

The spill wasn't the first case of serious vandalism in recent months.

In October, the playground at Lorenzdale Park in Gonville was vandalised, resulting in around $90,000 worth of damage. Only a week earlier, a urinal unit was ripped off a wall at the Virginia Lake toilet facility.

In early September, Eastside Playcentre was also the victim of a vandal attack, with sheds found open, equipment scattered, and padlocks and carabiners thrown away or stolen.

The vandals also spread human excrement across a wall and wrote offensive words on the chalkboard.