Heap of empty plastic cider bottles show extent of anti-social behaviour at Northampton toilet block

Shocking photos have shown a heap of well over a hundred empty three-litre cider bottles piled in one corner of the derelict block on the Racecourse.

Borough council park rangers have now worked with Northamptonshire Police to shut off the block and try to prevent any more access.

It is not clear if park drinkers have been entering the old block of toilets to drink or if the stack of empty plastic bottles has built up from throwing them through an unsecured window.

Alan Ogilvie, chairman of the Friends of Northampton Racecourse, told the Chronicle: "The toilets have been shut for a long time because they used to be a lot of drug dealing, graffiti and inappropriate sexual behaviour around it.

"Maybe it would be best if they were just knocked down.

"The Racecourse does need its own set of toilets. I have been speaking about this with borough council and would like to see some coin-operated anti-vandal toilets installed closer to the pavillion."

A tweet by Northampton Neighbourhood Police Team, who helped secure the block, reads: "In the process of securing the old toilet block on the Racecourse... complaints of anti-social behaviour... there must be a long term solution for this building moving forward?"

It comes after a litter pick by the Friends of Northampton Racecourse saw more than 40 volunteers turn out to tidy the park and around the toilet block on February 24.