Yobs rule, but it's not OK (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Yobs rule, but it's not OK

YOBS have won the Battle of the Bull Ring - the Roman amphitheatre in Cirencester which may once have been the venue for gladiatorial combat.

And by their behaviour the yobs, some aged only 14 or 15, have made any large-scale excavation of the site unlikely.

Measures taken by Cotswold District Council to improve facilities at the site for visitors have been halted by the scale of vandalism encountered.

Youths have gathered regularly in the amphitheatre's natural bowl and used it for drinking sessions, skateboarding, riding mountain bikes and, some claim, drug-taking.

Dr John Paddock, head of Cotswold District Council's museums service, explained: "The monument is very important archaeologically and is worthy of a high profile.

"But while there are people who want to see it excavated, if that was done the excavations would be decimated within days."

The council has not renewed the five-year local management agreement it had with English Heritage, who own the site, because of the time and money it was having to spend on trying to combat the vandalism.

Three times the council set up new interpretation boards to explain the amphitheatre - known locally as the Bull Ring - to the scores of visitors who go to the Cotswold Avenue monument each year, and each time the boards were ripped down, smashed up, or burned.

"One new set of boards was put up on a Friday, the day before National Archaeology Day," said Dr Paddock, "and when we went there next morning they had been wrecked."

Five times the walling around the area was re-built after stones were levered out and thrown around.

Litter bins and new bins for dog waste were vandalised, and some of the lids set on fire.

"We decided not to renew the management agreement when it expired in April because we were spending an inordinate amount of time and money putting right a lot of vandalism," said Dr Paddock.

"There were a lot of problems and we were spending a huge amount of officer time and resources on them.

"We put a lot of time and work into getting it right but the more effort we put into it the more quickly it seemed to be undone."

He said there had been a number of discussions with the police about the vandalism.

"But they pointed out that they could not be policing up there and in the rest of the town as well," he said.

"It would also have been virtually impossible to catch anyone because it is so easy to enter or leave the area.

"And if any 14 or 15-year-olds were actually caught red-handed, what could you do with them?

"All in all it was decided there was no point in renewing the management agreement.

"It's disheartening because archaeologically and historically this is a very important site.

"We shall continue to promote it, and we shall continue to organise the occasional tour there, but that's all."

At one stage it was felt the amphitheatre and the land around it could be linked to form a new, linear park for Cirencester.

"That was certainly the vision," said Dr Paddock, "but it was not really practicable for a number of reasons."

A spokeswoman for English Heritage said this week: "We would have been happy for the local management agreement to continue.

"However, the amphitheatre has now been included back in our normal schedule for maintenance."