VANDALS have closed down a popular community centre on one of Salisbury's biggest residential estates.

Following the latest spate of attacks on the Hampton Park community centre in Hampton Park, Bishopdown, the management committee has reluctantly decided to close it on safety grounds, making several community groups homeless.

Committee chairman Derek Kilner told the Journal they could no longer guarantee the safety of users nor that the facilities would be available.

Mr Kilner said: "We have now reached the stage where the committee has said enough is enough."

The closure will affect the pre-school group and the after-school club, as well as youth groups, community groups and sports organisations, who will have to find alternative accommodation for the time being.

Mr Kilner said the committee would be meeting to discuss what to do and what measures could be taken to try and make the centre safe - as soon as possible.

He said: "What we all want is a quality and safe community centre and at the moment we have not got one."

Mr Kilner said incidents of antisocial behaviour had been sporadic around the community centre for some time.

"Then, over the past fortnight, it has got progressively worse," he said.

"One committee member, a 70-year-old lady, had verbal abuse when she asked a group of young people not to damage the centre's veranda.

"Then, on Friday night, we found that a veranda door had been kicked in, a wooden beam, part of the roof support, had been kicked out, tiles had been removed, the wooden veranda damaged and there was graffiti everywhere.

"The lock on the centre door was damaged, so it could not be unlocked, causing problems for people who wanted to use the centre."

Mr Kilner said he wanted residents of Hampton Park to know why the centre had to be closed and to assure them that talks were going on to find the best way to make the centre safer.

These could include security grilles and other safety features.

A police spokesman said they were investigating the incidents of Friday and Saturday and urged residents to co-operate by informing police if they saw or heard anything suspicious.

He said: "We want to encourage people to let the police know - preferably as it happens, so that police can be on the scene quickly."