Police and council appeal for information over Redcar arson attacks
Last updated 1st May 2025
Redcar and Cleveland Council has joined police in appealing for information from residents after a further spate of arson attacks amid fears someone could be killed.
A fence belonging to a bungalow in Rushpool Close on the boundary of Greengates field, also known as Roseberry field, in Kirkleatham, Redcar was recently set on fire.
Supermarket trolleys and cages were also pushed onto a sports court used by children attending the nearby 25K Community Centre, off Ayton Drive, and set alight last Monday evening.
Last month the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported how a playground on the field continued to be closed after vandals burnt play equipment, along with the concerns of Kirkleatham ward councillor Peter Grogan.
Councillor Grogan previously raised fire fuelled anti-social behaviour incidents in the area at a meeting of the council and said there needed to be a deterrent to “vandals that plague our fields and playgrounds”.
A statement issued on behalf of cabinet member for neighbourhoods, Councillor Adam Brook and council leader Alec Brown, who also represents Kirkleatham, said there was “no excuse” for such behaviour.
It said: “We encourage residents and local businesses to report any information – including providing CCTV or door bell footage – that could support efforts to identify those responsible to the police.
“The council is working closely with partners in the police and fire brigade to identify perpetrators, as well as increasing patrols to reassure the community and address continuing incidents of anti-social and criminal behaviour.
“Improvements are being made to the existing CCTV in the area as part of the council’s wider CCTV refurbishment and improvements to infrastructure are also being considered.”
Cleveland Police also said additional neighbourhood patrols had been carried out to offer reassurance to residents after “continual fires”.
But Cllr Grogan said these needed to be on more than just one evening and, while praising a local police community support officer for their efforts, said he would like to see a presence from regular police officers rather than community support officers.
A police spokeswoman said: “Police in Redcar are aware of numerous items being taken and then discarded on Roseberry field to be set on fire.
“Enquiries are ongoing to identify who is responsible and to speak to businesses nearby to help in deterring the items from being taken, local officers will also be conducting patrols in the area.
“If you have information or CCTV footage that could assist officers with their investigation, please either call Cleveland Police on 101 or visit the website.”
‘Lives at risk’
Cllr Grogan said he was concerned that properties – and lives – were now being put at risk.
He said improvements to CCTV – slated to involve replacing a “rapid deployment” camera which locals claim does not work properly with a permanent camera directly linked to the council’s control room – “still hadn’t materialised”.
He said ward councillors had asked for more resources to be committed to the area and he felt a Public Space Protection Order – orders that can be issued by local authorities in order to restrict anti-social behaviour – should be considered.
This should extend to the Roseberry Shopping Centre, in Roseberry Road, he said, where items such as trolleys and plastic bread baskets have been stolen from a service area and then set ablaze.
Addressing the problems, he said: “They the authorities are not stopping it at the source.
“The incidents cool down a bit and then it fires back up again once everything is forgotten.
“Some of these kids don’t go to school and in terms of the criminal justice system – they get a slapped wrist and then go and do it again.
“The damage to the fence – the fire could have carried on and spread to the house and then its potentially lives being lost.”
He suggested police were “catching up” to incidents when they were reported initially to the fire brigade and he had struggled to get definitive answers out of the council over promised investment in community safety.
Cllr Grogan said: “Situations like this develop and fester.
“If we are not careful we could descend into another Hemlington, how it was a couple of years ago.
“There is an issue regarding arson, parental responsibility is also not being adhered to.
“When I spoke to a local resident who was picking up their children from school on the day after an incident, he said ‘There’s no point, I have lived here for 20 years and no-one cares’.
“That’s not good and sad to hear.”