There are fresh hopes a community centre could reopen and help reduce anti-social behaviour in the area.

Sunnyside Centre in Sunnyside Park in Great Lever was broken into and a litter-picking group said they spent more than three hours cleaning up the mess left behind.

The Lever Edge Litter Picking group in Great Lever said their members were contacted by residents about the state of the area since bonfire night.

The centre had been broken into, and the litter-pickers discovered large amounts of nitrous oxide canisters, and general litter on the park off Auberson Road, Lever Edge Great Lever.

Three volunteers worked for three-and-a-half hours to collect and bag up much of the mess.

Carol Leigh – a member of the litter picking group – said: “We went round and had a look and couldn’t believe the state of it.

“It has been boarded up countless times, but they still keep breaking in.

The Bolton News: Inside the centre where large amounts of rubbish were foundInside the centre where large amounts of rubbish were found (Image: Public)

“We are keeping an eye on it because it’s a problem area.

“We want to live in a clean area.

“It’s devastating, especially for the people who live there.”

Carol says they collected 37 cannisters, and 24 bags of rubbish, which she says is a problem every day.

They are now asking the local neighbourhood policing team and local councillors to do more to stop this repeat crime and anti-social behaviour occurring. 

 Cllr Sue Haworth said “Notable numbers of complaints and crime reporting have been made to the police throughout the year about noisy congregations of people at this area on foot, in cars and some are on bicycles.

“There has often been food rubbish strewn about and these large drug cannisters piled high.

“Residents and I have attended police meetings in the area to get across how tired local residents are with these nightly occurrences.

The Bolton News: Where the centre was broken intoWhere the centre was broken into (Image: Public)

“Residents really want the local neighbourhood police team to work shifts covering the late evening and some of the night so that these problems have more hope of being solved.”       

 Cllr Haworth also said that “unused locked down buildings” were always a concern, and that they were a “magnet for people” who were bored and looking for places to hang out and get up to no good”.

She added: “Sunnyside Centre on the park has been locked down for some time now partly due to delay in getting new running agreements in place in the covid lockdown.

“The Council is working with a local charity who want to run the building via a legal agreement, and they want to do good in the area which is just what is needed here.”  

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