PART of a Langlee play park may be forced to close due to a “soul destroying” problem with littering.

Volunteers have been cleaning up rubbish – which includes needles and broken glass – strewn across the Beech Avenue site on a regular basis.

Last week Karen Walker, vice chair of the Langlee Residents’ Association, and Galashiels Community Council chairwoman Judith Cleghorn were among those who cleared the facility.

But the play park did not stay clean for long.

“I went back the next day to find a dirty sanitary towel and broken glass again,” Mrs Walker told a meeting of Galashiels Community Council this month. “I don’t mind going there every day but it’s soul destroying.”

Mrs Cleghorn said the “unbelievable” situation meant that closing part of the park for the safety of local children was being considered.

Mrs Walker added: “It’s a good park, it’s a shame that we might have to close the bottom part. It’s sad that somebody is doing this.”

Waverley Housing is in the process of ‘regenerating’ its housing stock in Langlee.

Housing services manager Lenore Suddon told the meeting that littering at the park had been an “ongoing problem for a while”.

She added: “It started a few months ago. Waverley has been out to clean it up over and over again. That’s not our job but it was so bad you couldn’t leave it.

“It’s really dangerous. There’s glass, cat litter, some of these bins have needles in them.”

Ms Suddon said that the bin bags had been searched to see if there was any way to identify who was involved.

But she said the rubbish being left in the park was being taken out of bins.

“If you do find out or hear anything then please give us [Waverley Housing] a call,” she added.

Mrs Walker said she had spoken with council leader Euan Jardine about installing cameras at the site.

The meeting heard that these were yet to be purchased and still in the “procurement phase”.

Mrs Cleghorn warned that if the littering problem continues then “issues with vermin will come”.