Events at a park in the heart of Wrexham are under threat, and anti-social behaviour could increase, if “devastating” park service cuts go ahead.

That was the view of the Friends of Bellevue Park following measures proposed in Wrexham Council’s Difficult Decisions consultation in which they could lose their ranger.

In a letter to the Leader, chairman Barbara Jones and group member Wendy Prince said: “We have been told we will lose our park ranger altogether leaving the park very vulnerable.

“This will also mean that events in the park such as our Friday Night Music in the Park, Easter egg hunt and Halloween Trail along with tennis coaching etc will now not happen.

“The park will be open to abuse as we are already short on PCSOs in the area, leaving the park without a presence.”

“The park had a lottery grant in 2000 making it the beautiful park it is today. We also gained World War One Centenary Fields Status in 2016, supposedly making Bellevue a park in perpetuity.

“From this the Friends fundraised to place a memorial garden in the park dedicated to all who served and died in the First World War, and we had the unveiling of this just a day before we had the devastating news that we will have a huge drop in funding along with other parks in the area.”

Wrexham Council needs to save around £13m in the next two financial years due to a reduced local government settlement.

One of the many measures proposed in the consultation is to cut the number of rangers at the county borough’s 11 country parks, with the Streetscene service helping staff to clean the parks.

Facilities and staff that are grant supported will continue to be maintained according to the grant criteria.

In the letter, the members added that the number of rangers for the county borough would be cut from six to three.

They added: “The bins will not be emptied on a regular basis and visitors to parks such as Bellevue, Ty Mawr, Alyn Waters, and Nant Mill will drop.

“Last year 512,382 people visited these parks overall and of these 329,752 visited Bellevue – you can imagine the amount of rubbish this causes. On band nights alone we have upwards of 200 people a the free concerts.

“The grass will not be cut as often as it does at present and this will jeopardise the Green Flag status that we have retained for the last 14 years. This will also be bad for the children of three schools from our area who regularly use the playing fields, the tennis courts and bowling green as they have no green space of their own.”

The letter adds that the park had recently had the tennis courts renewed and that the children’s play area was revamped last year.

Bellevue Park is used by charities to raise funds, Offa Community Council holds its annual carnival there and the park also boasts a well-used football pitch and keep fit trail.

The letter added: “The park was left to rack and ruin once before and we fought to have a lottery grant to bring it back to its original glory. It will be a crime for this to fall into disrepair once again and a complete waste of lottery funding if it is left without anyone in charge it will be open to vandalism and misuse.”

Mrs Thomas and Mrs Price urged the public to “save our park for future generations” by writing to Wrexham Council, Offa Community Council, Ian Lucas MP, Lesley Griffiths AM and ward member Cllr Phil Wynn.

They added: “We plead with everyone to come on board with us and save Bellevue Park. Also to save jobs of the three park rangers who will be out of work if this implementation comes about. They have worked so hard in the last few years since the last cuts to maintain standards across the parks.”

A Wrexham Council spokesman said that the excutive approved the Difficult Decisions consultation on Tuesday.

She added: “The consultation includes proposals that might help the council save £13m over the next two years, and gives people the opportunity to have their say.

“The Country Parks Review is one of the proposals included in the consultation and we’re encouraging anyone with a view to put their opinion forward by taking part in the consultation.

“We want to know what people think before we make any decisions.”

To take part in the consultation visit www.wrexham.gov.uk/ english/consultation/budget/ index.htm