A WEYMOUTH beauty spot is being spoilt by revellers according to angry residents.

The Woodland Trust area in Chickerell, which has entrances from Glennie Way, is a popular spot with dog walkers.

But the natural beauty is being ruined by people cutting down trees, leaving beer bottles about the place and dragging garden furniture into the woodland to use for parties.

Chickerell resident Malcolm Watson, 62, said the woodland area had been getting worse for a while but it had got to the point now where he felt something should be done.

He said: “It’s just gone downhill. It’s a lovely place to walk and it’s a great local habitat for birds, people enjoy walking round there with their dogs and there are deer there and foxes and snakes, it’s a very diverse area.”

He added: “But now there are beer bottles about the place and kids have parties over there.

“There is furniture there and they have cut down trees to make a structure. It’s a complete and utter mess.

“It’s really annoying, I walk there every day. But it’s somewhere you don’t want to be because if the kids are there you feel intimidated.”

Mr Watson said he was annoyed with the Woodland Trust because he feels that they aren’t doing anything.

He said: “When the wood was set up there was a warden there two or three times a week and he was very interested in it, but then someone else took over and from that point it went downhill.”

Woodland Trust regional manager Sally Glass, said they would be investigating the issue.

She said: “Chickerell is a very special place for local people to enjoy and by doing this these people are actively reducing the ability of people to enjoy it.

“They are spoiling it.”

She added that the Woodland trust would be looking at working with the community to tackle the problem.

She said: “What we would normally do is get our contractors to go in and clear up the mess and then have a site meeting with the community.”

She added: “We will get involved with the local community and with the local community police officers.”

'Trust is concerned about safety'

TEAM leader of Chickerell Safer Neighbourhood Team PC Stan Knight said that it looked as though some of the small trees had been cut to create a bike track through the woods but was concerned that three garden benches had been dragged there as they could have been taken from people’s gardens.

He said: “This is obviously not the way ahead that we would want people to go.

“Worryingly, a number of garden benches have appeared over the weekend, which I am assuming have been stolen from someone’s garden.

“We have had no reports of any thefts of this nature, so I am keen to hear of anyone who has had a bench taken.

“I have already spoken to a representative of the Woodland Trust, they are concerned about health and safety issues for other users of the woods, interference with wildlife, and the cutting down of the saplings.”

PC Knight hopes he can bring together the youths responsible, and to persuade them to volunteer to assist the Woodland Trust, rather than causing problems.

Anyone able to identify the benches are asked to contact Weymouth police station on 01305 222222.