A CAERPHILLY mum says her community has been left ‘petrified’ after council work created a 'playground for young vandals'.

Karen Munro of Thistle Way, Risca, is concerned after Caerphilly council began work to demolish garages which have fallen into disrepair on Thistle Hill, removing the doors but leaving the work incomplete and hence the buildings open during the process.

“About eight weeks ago we had a letter from the council saying we had to vacate the garages as they had concrete cancer and were going to be demolished,” Mrs Munro said.

“We have had problems with youths in the past and when the council took the doors off youths gained access and were throwing glass bottles and smashing windows.

“They need to be boarding the garages up.”

Mrs Munro who says they are around 15 garages in the area said the problems started when contractors took the doors off the garages.

“There have been three different contractors; Seren, Arc and JLP Scaffolding doing the work,” she said.

“There are around six to 12 of them [youths] around 16 to 18 years old, throwing things such as bottles.

“They haven’t damaged property yet but I am very concerned about it.”

Since reporting it to the police and council, Caerphilly council officers have put up fencing to secure the garages and officers have issued anti-social behaviour referrals- which will see ASBO's imposed on them if they are in trouble three more times.

However Mrs Munro reported that the fences have since been pulled down on May 18 and replaced by the council again.

“The problem is resolved for now” she said.

“But how long it will last I don’t know.”

A council spokesman said: “A number of the garages had fallen into disrepair and were therefore scheduled for demolition whilst others are scheduled to be repaired as part of the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) programme.

“The issue of youths accessing the garages was brought to our attention by a resident last week.

“As soon as we were made aware of this problem, we instructed the appointed contractor to secure the garages immediately.

“One block of garages has now been demolished and contractors are continuing to work on demolition of the remaining three; we anticipate this to be completed within the next month.”