It has been a long litany of broken swings, grafitti and the park had only been reopened to the public for two weeks when it was decided to do something about this antisocial behaviour.

According to the Mayor, Luisa García Chamorro, police presence in the parks has been stepped up, especially in the busier areas such as the skatepark and where the swings are. She also explained that a 4-man team of cleaners get to work on the park early each morning.

The Mayor pointed out that she can’t have police officers keeping an eye on everybody all hours of the day and night, hence the idea to catch who is vandalising the installations in the act and identify them… hopefully.

She concluded by reminding everybody that the expense for the upkeep of the park comes from the public coffers; i.e. from the local taxpayers’ pockets, therefore “having to replace a swing because somebody decided that it looked better broken comes out of the pockets of every Motrileño.

Not only will the culprit be fined – his or her parents in the case of a minor – but this person would also have to foot the bill for the repair or replacement of any damaged caused regardless of whether it done by the person caught or not.

She declared that one minor had been caught red-handed on the very day that the park was inaugurated, attempting to spray paint grafitti.

It cost no less that 1,250,000 euros to renovate the 22,000 sq/m of the green areas, 10,500 lineal metres of footpath, 3,600 sq/m of sports area and 1,300 sq/m of pond.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)