AN AWARD-WINNING garden has been closed to the public after it was vandalised by drug-taking youths throwing “wild parties”.

The noisy group has been using the Secret Garden behind St Leonard’s Church in Hove as a party destination for months and are said to have “no respect” for the garden or its neighbours.

The garden was opened after a community effort in 2014.

But now its gates have been locked after the group’s parties killed flowers, damaged furniture and littered the area with cans, bottles, and drug paraphernalia.

Joi Jones, 52, is one of the founders of the garden.

She said: “It’s very upsetting, they took a hold of the garden and no one else could use it.

“The neighbours have young children and they could smell the odour of drugs and hear loud swearing which isn’t a good environment for them.”

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Joi said the committee behind the garden used to tolerate the teenagers but when the word was spread and partygoers turned up, they had to make the decision to close the garden.

She said: “The whole community uses the garden.

“We have nursery children, a women’s sculpture group, and the mum of a ten-year-old who died visits regularly.

“She comes in to remember Daniel by sitting on the bench dedicated to him.”

The garden grows a variety of vegetables, herbs and plants and has a pond, shed, greenhouse and four bee hives. Despite being open to the public since 2014, the garden’s gates will now be locked, all its seating will be removed and CCTV will be installed.

A sign has been put up near the gardens, explaining the reasons for its closure to the residents.

The multi-award-winning garden has recently achieved “outstanding” in the It’s Your Neighbourhood category at the South and South East in Bloom awards.

The man whose ideas helped develop the garden, Mike Sharman, died two weeks ago.

Founder and treasurer of the garden and Conservative councillor for Wish Ward Robert Nemeth said: “There’s been a growing group of young people playing music, shouting, smoking drugs, and waking people up. It’s been going on for months.

“It’s not fitting to Mike’s memory, the visionary behind the garden. We want it open and looked after.”