LANDSCAPING materials worth nearly £4,000 were vandalised and stolen from council-owned land following gas works.

SGN were contracted to carry out maintenance work at the junction of Sea View Road and Ringwood Road in Poole which involved digging up a grassy mound next to residential houses.

The utilities company hired Carr Civil Engineering - based in Ferndown - to carry out works to reinstate the land once they'd finished which involved turfing the area.

But due to a lack of rain the grass didn't take and began to die.

Frank Carr, the company's owner, said that a number of youths had been seen running up and down the mound dislodging the turf which had cost them £400.

The company had also bought £3,500 of fencing which was stacked up ready to install at the site which was subsequently stolen.

The matter was reported to the police.

"It hasn't rained and the turf has shrunk and dried up," Mr Carr said.

"It was left perfectly - everything was done," he said. "We have had letters from residents saying thank you about the work and how nice and polite we were.

"We didn't want to leave a lot of grass seeds on there - it's not nice to look at.

"We haven't had the best of luck there. If residents want to call me to talk about it I'm more than happy to discuss it with them."

Mr Carr was due to meet with Borough of Poole to discuss the matter on Friday morning (FRI). It was decided that SGN will organise for grass seed to be put down in the area. Borough of Poole employees have since removed the grass that was becoming a trip hazard, a spokesman said.

A spokesman for the Borough of Poole said: "We are aware that it is not acceptable and we have said to SGN that the land needs to be put back to a decent standard and they will be working to address that shortly."

A spokesman for SGN said: “As part of our maintenance work in Sea View Road, Poole, we were working in a grass verge at the side of the road. Once we had completed the repair, our contractors relaid the turf. We later learnt that some of the new turf slipped onto the neighbouring footpath after our teams had left site. We have now removed the displaced turf and met with the local authority. We’re sorry for any inconvenience our work may cause.”

Resident Pam Maidment, 68, said she wrote to Carr Civil Engineering thanking them for their work.

"I have got no complaint with them at all," she said. "I've got no qualm with their work - they were brilliant, absolutely brilliant."