Lead roofing has been stolen and a window broken at the town hall in the centre of Downham Market last week.
Scaffolding has been in place in recent weeks to allow work to be done to repair the roof of the town hall. In January this year, the council agreed to fund repairs to the roof of the town hall as leaks threatened the structure of the building.
This week police issued a statement appealing for members of the public to come forward with information about an incident which they say occurred between 2pm on Wednesday 12th and 9am on Thursday 13th April. The police describe the incident as theft and criminal damage saying “a quantity of lead was stolen and a window was broken”.
Although the police describe the theft and criminal damage as “an incident” suggesting one event, the Downham Market town clerk says a “reasonable assumption” given evidence she has seen would be that the hall window was broken by young people kicking a football around the town square area. It is not known who is responsible for the lead theft.
The town council has employed security to attempt to prevent future incidents while the roof repairs are taking place. Security is in place between 5pm until 6am which is costing the council £208 per night.
Also this week, during a town council meeting, mayor Charlie Pyatt said he was “deeply saddened” that this has happened. He described the broken window as “vandalism” and also claimed that the workers fixing the roof have suffered anti-social behaviour. He alleged there had been an incident of “spitting and chewing gum being thrown at our workmen”.
Later in the meeting, while discussing an idea to increase sports facilities in the town, mayor Charlie Pyatt said he hopes the next DMTC mayor, to be chosen next month, will “continue my work in pushing [west norfolk borough council] for facilities for the youth”. He suggested the lack of facilities may have resulted in some of the recent incidents at the town hall.
The town council voted against providing a grant to a group which runs tabletop game events geared towards young people.
Information can be passed anonymously to the police via the CrimeStoppers service by calling 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.
