‘RELUCTANT’ Woodland Trust bosses say they have been forced take action at a Bromsgrove beauty spot after claiming an increase in inappropriate sexual activity, violent animals and dog fouling.

The trust is temporarily closing the car park at Uffmoor Wood during weekdays, but the area will still be open at weekends and for people entering on foot.

Moves to make modifications to the car park come just four months after the woods were reopened following a six month closure in 2017 due to “illicit activity”.

However, annoyed members of the Friends of Uffmoor Wood group claim the trust has an “ulterior motive” for closing the car park.

They say the reasons for the closures are not backed up by figures from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, submitted to West Mercia Police, which found only seven logs made reference to incidents in Uffmoor Lane and Uffmoor Woods during a five-year span.

Kerrie Fisher, friends’ group member, said: “It’s the same old story. We said in November that we’ll give it to March until they try and close the woods again and we’ve been proved right.

“We have members here every single day and we’ve never seen anything illicit. You might get the odd dog off their lead, but that happens everywhere.

“We asked the warden when the last incident was and they said there were people involved in sexual activity in a car on the car park last week – but they didn’t report it to the police.

“We just think the Woodland Trust has underlying reasons to why they don’t want the woods open and they’re just trotting out the same line as they did last time without any proof.”

The trust said Uffmoor Wood has become one of its most problematic sites for anti-social behaviour, and, despite reopening with “fresh impetus”, incidents have crept up once again.

Toby Bancroft, regional manager for the Woodland Trust, said: “We are extremely disappointed that, despite best efforts to combat the problems at the wood, we have to once again take action.

“The fact of the matter is that the continued anti-social behaviour makes this wood unsafe which is a shame because it is a great place to visit.

“We desperately want to create a positive environment at Uffmoor and, like our other many woods across the UK, leave it open for all to enjoy.

“Whilst the closure of the car park is temporarily, we do aim to close part of it off permanently – the area that is most used by offenders. We hope this will reduce incidents.”