A community has vowed to fight back against vandalism from yobs at a popular nature reserve.
Residents who live near the Blue Lagoon in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, have struck back after benches were torched and signs defaced.
Concrete slabs have replaced the seating areas that were either thrown into bushes or were set alight, and graffiti is still scribbled across the pavement and family-friendly maps.
A Facebook group has been set up by Terry Stephens to combat the vandalism, and has has grown to nearly 700 members, all committed to saving the local sanctuary.
Blue Lagoon in Bletchley
Milton Keynes City Council
The 55-year-old told MailOnline: “It’s cat and mouse to reclaim the land after moving to the area two years ago. They’ll give up in the end. We don’t give up. We’ll never give up. There was a bridge down there which was caught on fire. We did have an arsonist down here about two years ago.
“We have people come down in the summer, and they’ll use the trees as firewood, but this year it seems to be less. We’re winning – I used to have a litter picking team and we’d get bags and bags and bags of stuff. Now the community do it.”
Rachel Gaines, 59, from Milton Keynes, added: “Having more people here, there is less antisocial behaviour. If there’s a good people presence here, it tends to reduce the bad people. There’s less anti-social behaviour and more social.
“The fact that the families are bringing their children means they’re teaching their children to respect it, and as they grow up they’ll look after it more and more and more and more.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
The entrance to Blue Lagoon in Bletchley
Google Maps
The site is adjacent to a landfill, with supporters hoping to reclaim the area with greenery when it is finally filled. The lake itself was first from clay pits mined when Bletchley was central to the brickmaking industry.
The lake is still used by divers to train as a bus and plane are hidden in the lagoon.
However, residents have complained that the area is used as a “resort” in the heights of summer, with trees being used as toilets and litter being strewn across the ground.
Marcheta Beattie, 63, from Bletchley, said: “It’s definitely improved in the three years I’ve been here. I started walking after Covid. I lost my mum and my best friend in 20 days of each other, so this was my healing process. It still is.’
The campaign group have now announced plans to set up a Park Run to bring as many people to the area as possible.
Gareth Snelson, founder and co-event director of Milton Keynes park run, has been busy looking at potential routes for fellow runners to enjoy.
He said: “My impression of here was always – this is where they leave all the burnt-out cars! So I was quite surprised when I first came down here and saw how nice it is.”