ANGRY residents turned up at a council meeting to vent their frustration over a outdoor gym area they claim is a magnet for yobs.

More than a dozen people with homes near to Kizmet Park, Canvey, went to Castle Point Council’s cabinet meeting to voice their concerns about the park’s new Adizone exercise area.

They claim the park now regularly swarms at night with noisy youngsters, who throw bottles and mud at residents’ homes, urinate on fences and keep them awake into the early hours.

Richard Everett, who lives next to the park, said: “During the day it’s not so bad, but at night, it’s just full of kids making a right old racket.

“It’s tolerable at the moment because they’re at school, but imagine what it’s going to be like in the summer holidays.”

The council put in the £150,000 Adizone gym equipment for teenagers and adults at the beginning of the year, leaving neighbours angry they were not consulted about the move. At Tuesday night’s meeting, they presented councillors with a petition signed by 41 people.

It asks for the Adizone – paid for by sports equipment maker Adidas and the Veolia Cleanaway Pitsea Marshes Trust – to be moved.

Anne Wood, Canvey Island Independent Party councillor for the ward, spoke for the residents at the meeting.

She said: “What action is the cabinet going to take about the unruly youths, abuse, vandalism and damage now happening on a daily basis in Kizmet Park since the installation of the Adizone equipment?”

Peter Burch, Tory councillor responsible for the environment, said the council had received no complaints from residents until it was given the petition.

He added: “Unfortunately, there is not a lot we can do just now, because it’s actually in and up and running. It has been very well received, as far as I’m concerned.”