A WILDLIFE reserve is being destroyed by vandals and boy racers, according to angry volunteers.

Over the past six months Barling Magna Wildlife Reserve has been plagued by antisocial behaviour, with graffiti being sprayed across the site and reports of teenagers meeting to take drugs.

Litter has also been left strewn across the grass.

Residents and volunteers, who run the nature reserve, told the Echo the problems were temporarily halted when the gates were locked overnight.

It meant people were unable to enter between dusk and sunrise.

However, volunteers claim Barling Magna Parish Council was unhappy with the decision and prevented wardens from locking the gates, reigniting the issues.

Stuart Bines, 60, is upset the council has not supported his bid to keep the village safe and clean.

He said: “They didn’t like the fact that some public spirited people were taking action themselves.

“We are exasperated with the lack of action. The latest is that someone has gone and sprayed the notice board. It’s been going on over six months.

“All I want to do is to keep it clean and stop the car park being churned up by boy racers and driving around country lanes under the influence of drugs.”

Long-term Barling resident Ian Watts, 69, believes the situation is getting dangerous.

He said: “The antisocial behaviour consisted of litter being dumped in the car park, used condoms being strewn everywhere and there were numerous discarded empty plastic bags which appeared to contain dust from cannabis. One of the volunteers, who is a retired police officer, said in his opinion the bags had contained cannabis bush.

“The volunteers arranged a rota so that it could be locked and unlocked mornings and evenings, and were issued with instructions on their wellbeing and safety. Once the rota was in place the anti-social behaviour stopped immediately.

“Then, quite out of the blue the volunteers were informed that they need to stop this action immediately as the parish council had not authorised it.

“The upshot of all this is that the volunteers still cannot open and close the gate."

Mr Watts added that drivers suspected of taking drugs had been spotted speeding around the village.

He said the issues have been raised with Barling Magna Parish Council.

The council was contacted by the Echo but did not respond to requests for a comment.

The Echo first told how continuous vandalism, antisocial behaviour and flytipping was making life a misery for residents living close the nature reserve in November.

Reported incidents included seats being set on fire, and the duck house thrown into the pond.

At the time, Rochford Council said it was aware of problems of flytipping and had arranged for its streetscene team to carry out extra patrols.

Civil engineer Simon Sperry, 52, from Little Wakering, said people have to be careful when walking around the site because of the hazards.