VANDALS have destroyed a newly-created community playing field used by more than 1,200 Bradford schoolchildren by churning it up with vehicles.

The Spencer Road fields project had been due to officially open next month after £95,000 had been spent to provide community sports facilities in the Lidget Green and Little Horton areas of Bradford.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: SAD: Pupils (from left) Mohammed Sameer, Zeeshan Rehman, Karina Kahanova and Zenab Ali

SAD: Pupils, from left, Mohammed Sameer, Zeeshan Rehman, Karina Kahanova and Zenab Ali

The Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Joanne Dodds, was due to perform the opening ceremony by switching on the floodlights next month.

But those plans looked to have been wrecked by the vandals who cut through fencing to drive vehicles, thought to be quad bikes or 4x4 vehicles, on to grass the field leaving it strewn with deep tyre ruts.

The fields are open to the whole community, and groups, including Horton Grange and Farnham Primary Schools, the Khidmat Community Centre and Farnham Road Children’s Centre regularly use them.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Horton Grange pupils, from left, Karina Kahanova, Mohammed Sameer, Eddie Sykes school site manager, Zeeshan Rehman and Zenab Ali look at the damage done by vandals to the community fields

Horton Grange pupils, from left, Karina Kahanova, Mohammed Sameer, Eddie Sykes school site manager, Zeeshan Rehman and Zenab Ali look at the damage done by vandals to the community fields

Plans to restore the site date back several years, and thanks to a £60,000 grant from WREN, £35,000 from Bradford Council and fundraising efforts from schools and community groups, the work was mostly complete.

Local football clubs were ready to move to the field, with pitches marked out in preparation, although the damage means the field means they will be unusable for some time.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: The aftermath of the vandalism at the Spencer Road pitches

The aftermath of the vandalism at the Spencer Road pitches

The cost to fully repair the pitches and re-sow the grass is expected to run between £20,000 and £25,000.

Peel Park in Bradford also suffered extensive damage last weekend in a similar incident caused by people driving vehicles on grassed areas.

Councillor Imran Khan, executive for environment, sport and sustainability on Bradford Council, said: "I am extremely frustrated that this has happened.

"It is just mindless vandalism, it is such a nuisance when you have people who just want to take away other people's enjoyment.

"People from all ages and all backgrounds use this pitch, and the fact that it was so close to having its official launch makes it even more difficult to comprehend.

"As we've seen, it is bad enough on the roads, and now we've got people driving this way off the roads too.

"It has been a partnership between the council, police and the local community to get it to the stage its at, and for someone to destroy it is terrible.

"If someone takes a vehicle like that on this field can cause damage that will take months to sort out, and this will probably cost a lot of money, which is an expense we just can't afford.

"We need to deal with these people very seriously."

Nadia Hussain, leader of extended learning and services at Horton Grange Primary, said the two schools had taken on the responsibility of maintaining the pitch.

"We think it has caused about £20,000 to £25,000 to damage. It will cost a lot to level the site and re-seed the grass," she said.

"A couple of sports teams were interested in using the pitch, and we were looking at the timetables for when they could use it but this has definitely stopped all that for now."

Duncan Jacques, executive head teacher at Horton Grange Primary School and chairman of the Spencer Road residents' group, said: "This site has taken a lot of hard work. We have local teams use it that would struggle to find other pitches if these aren't usable.

"This is really disappointing, because a lot of people have put a lot of hard work in. We have only recently got it back into a usable state, and it has been taken away from the community by some very selfish people.

"It is not going to be cheap to bring these back to playing standards. We had plans to invest in more facilities on the site, and at times when money is tight we can't afford to be using it to repair the pitches.

"More than 1,200 primary school children use it, as well as football teams and other community groups, so I'm very disappointed with this."

Councillor Nazam Azam (Lab, City) said: "It is disappointing to see that some people aren't willing to take pride in their community. They don't appreciate that these facilities are for the good of everyone. The fields were the united effort of lots of people who put a lot of time and effort in to improve their community.

"I hope we can identify who did this and that an example is made out of them."

Police are investigating.