Park maze misused as 'public toilet' removed

The area in Leazes Park was said to have been a magnet for drug use and anti-social behaviour

A maze in a city centre park has been removed after people started to use it as a makeshift "public toilet".

Newcastle City Council has cut down the hedgerow maze in Leazes Park due to complaints that it attracted drug users and anti-social behaviour.

Bosses said the attraction, designed and planted by schoolchildren as part of the park's 2004 restoration, had not resembled a maze for years and had become an eyesore.

The area it occupied, next to the park's tennis and basketball courts, will be landscaped with grass and trees. Residents have been promised a consultation over any future plans for the site.

The council said the area had not resembled a maze for a number of years

The attraction was meant to represent the four elements, split into quarters representing fire, water, air and earth.

However a council report said that the maze was "in a poor state of disrepair and the scene of anti-social behaviour with it primarily being used as a public toilet", adding that problems had "resulted in much of maze dying off and becoming an eyesore whilst also allowing the anti-social behaviour to take place".

A council spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the "area has not resembled a maze in a number of years" and was instead a "scarcely visited" section of the park with "overgrown shrubs".

They also said staff found a large amount of drug related equipment at the site.

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