Spanish Point park could be one of the most beautiful spots in Bermuda, but at the moment is one of the trashiest said one angry area resident on Tuesday.

Donna Barnes, a member of the United Bermuda Party (UBP) constituency 19 branch committee was speaking after the party held a clean-up in the park on May 12. The event was designed to introduce UBP candidate Shawn Crockwell to the area. His candidacy was announced by the UBP in April.

"I advise tourists to bypass the park," said Mrs. Barnes, who lives nearby. "It has the potential to be a beautiful park, but right now it is not. In fact, I think it is the worst part of Spanish Point."

She said the area was crammed with beer bottles, derelict boats left tied to trees, old furniture and rotting fish.

"In one area alone in the hedge we took out probably eight blue recycle bags full of beer bottles," said Mrs. Barnes. "The problem is from the entrance to the boat club straight through to the parking lot. There are so many people who hang out there."

She thought that part of the problem could be that there is no public dock in Pembroke West, and so people use the Spanish Point Boat Club slip.

"People come in and clean their fish towards the boat club towards the bus stop," she said. "Neighbours around have to contend with the smell of rotting fish all the time, loud music and constant bad language. People, most of whom aren't even from Spanish Point, drink in the parking lot of the park, play their games and music and there is so much trash there."

Mrs. Barnes said there are trash bins in the parking lot of the park, but they tend to be ignored by the people who use the park as a hang-out.

"The KBB has put four of their stone trash receptacles by the bus stop and all four are smashed," said Mrs. Barnes. "The people who hang out there are using the broken pieces to make some sort of jetty. It is inconsiderate...

"We took away couches, chairs, umbrellas and trash. We left behind a couple of old engines that were too heavy to carry away."

She said the committee had been promised by the Parks department that the engines would be removed, but so far, they are still there.

"There are a lot of families who want to walk down there, but to get through the entrance, you have to pass the language, drinking, drugs and trash," she said. "The park use to be locked every night years ago."

Now, she said, in the winter people are content to remove a wooden railing so they can take their bikes into the park, and in the summer they simply cut the padlock and take their cars in.

"On a nice summer night you can hear the music all the way to Soares Grocery," she said. "This is what we have been putting up with for quite some time."

Mrs. Barnes hoped that the area could be cleaned up in the same way that Admiralty House was cleaned up.