ANGRY leaders at Trowbridge Girl Guides are being forced to clean up human waste left outside their hall in the town park.

They have been obliged to mop up the “pretty disgusting” mess with brushes and spades from the hall and to disinfect the area on several occasions.

It is believed that homeless people sleeping out overnight in Trowbridge Town Park are responsible.

Marion Davies, chairman of the hall management committee, said: “It’s pretty disgusting. The smell is atrocious, and it was a nightmare to clean up.”

In a letter to Trowbridge Town Council chief executive Lance Allan, she said: “The cost of clearing up other people’s mess in not a pleasant thing to have to do, nor should we have to do it.”

Mrs Davies said several deposits of human faeces had been left by the door of the hall last week.

“On Tuesday, a member found not only one but three deposits amongst the leaves along the path between the hall and the Trowbridge Park wall.

“They managed to clear it all up with the limited equipment we keep on the premises and disinfected the areas concerned.

“I can only suppose it was a homeless person or persons who were sleeping in the park and were unable to use the toilets in the park because they are closed at night.

“Some members of public think it is quite in order to climb over the wall and use the hall as a convenient place to pee, even when the nearby toilets are open.”

Now she is calling on the council to install portable toilets for homeless people and visitors to use.

The town council closed the public toilets in the park a few years ago following issues with anti-social behaviour and later demolished them.

Mr Allan said: “The town council is considering options for the provision of additional toilet facilities but it is unlikely they would be available 24 hours a day due to abuse of such facilities and anti-social behaviour.”

The Guide hall is regularly used by members throughout the district and local community groups and they depend on income derived from renting out their space for activities and events.

Mrs Davies added: “Members are regularly having to clear the leaves from the trees in the park andperiodically clearing cans, broken bottles and other refuse which some members of the public think it is quite in order to throw over the wall.

“We are a small charity with very limited income and depend solely on the fees paid by our hirers and without them the hall would not survive. They may decide not wish to hire the hall if they were aware of this sort of behaviour.”