The posh UK village at war with skateboarders as council hike £2 fine to £500
Bradenham once demanded just £2 from people who vandalised a local village green but will now increase that fee to £500.
A posh UK village has declared war on local skateboarders and vandals by altering its half-a-century-old bylaws.
Officials in Bradenham, Norfolk, introduced a £2 penalty for troublemakers venturing onto an eight-acre field in the town centre in 1966, at the time the equivalent of £32.
But they haven't updated the sum since then, and it has proven ineffective at preventing joyriders from tearing up the greenery.
Locals have become infuriated by the state in which people leave the green space and opted to update its bylaws to deter future trouble.
They have responded by increasing the fine, with a hand from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Bradenham officials have applied to update their bylaws to modern standards, with future vandalism to cost £500, an increase of £498.
The new rules will do away with their comparatively softer-touched but unusual predecessors.
People would have to stump up the £2 fine from 1966 if they dared to travel on the green in a tricycle, bicycle, wheelchair or horse-drawn carriage unless it was used "for the conveyance of a child or invalid".
They would also need to pay if they beat, sweep or brushed a carpet or hung "linen or any fabric for drying" while out in the open space.
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Brandenham will now ban a selection of modern nuisances, among them skateboards.
The new rules prevent people from piloting any motorbikes, motor scooters, Segways (or similar vehicles), motor vehicles or trailers on the green.
They even go so far as to ban people from throwing javelins, flying drones or model aircraft, or landing a hang glider or hot air balloon in the area.
Cricket, while still allowed, is only allowed in a select section of the green.
Chris Allhusen, the chairman of Brandenham's parish council, said the town wanted to deter the "little bit of anti-social behaviour" experienced on the green.
He said: "We get occasional joyriders, normally on a Saturday night, tearing across the green, which is used by Bradenham Cricket Club.
"We have put new [CCTV] cameras in but we couldn't do anything really as it's private property."
"People also make a nuisance late at night and we've had people practising golf, which is just dangerous."
