'Disrespect': community garden trashed after wheelie bin set alight

Sandhills Community Garden, which is next to the tram sheds, was damaged over the weekend after a garbage bin was set alight and timber furniture and stakes were thrown onto the flames.

"The bin had totally melted," volunteer Christine Everingham said.

"A home for bees that a local preschool had made was destroyed.

"A table an old lady who died had left to us was burnt. The trees were burnt.

"Everything in the garden has some meaning, so when somebody comes in and uses the garden for their own party and trashes it like that, it's distressing."

"I'm distressed because of the disrespect.

"We all do this for nothing. I've been volunteering here for 17 years."

Firefighters were called to the garden just after midnight on Sunday, while police say they are aware of the incident and urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.

Ms Everingham said she had cleaned up discarded vape cartridges and empty cans and bottles out from the garden in recent weeks, while syringes had also been found in the space.

However the fire was the worst vandalism she had seen recently.

"We don't have fences up and we don't want to put fences up to keep anybody out," she said. "It's open to everybody."

Ms Everingham said she would like to see more surveillance in the area, and contacted deputy lord mayor and Ward 1 councillor Declan Clausen about the matter.

Cr Clausen replied and said he was sorry to hear about the vandalism and asked the council's executive director of creative and community services to follow up with the parks and recreation team and police.

"It's awful when community assets are damaged, especially in cases where so much time, energy and love is poured into them by the community," Cr Clausen said in his response.

A motion adopted by City of Newcastle in August 2023 said that all NSW councils were subject to state government guidelines regarding CCTV, which state that "CCTV can be effective in reducing crime if it is part of a broader crime prevention and community safety strategy. CCTV is not recommended as an isolated response to addressing crime in public spaces".