The group has established a Facebook page, Keep Bathurst Playgrounds and Parks Safe, and hopes with the support of the community it can implement measures to prevent young children getting hurt.

Cayley Burton, one of the group’s members, said as a mum she was always worried about her children treading on or picking up used needles which have been found discarded in toilets and on the ground in parks in the city.

She said as a mother of two children, aged six and three-and-a-half, the first thing the kids do when they arrive in the park is run in different directions.

“My husband works away, so I, like many other mums, do it [the park] on my own. The kids run off in opposite directions – how do you protect them?” she said.

“If a needle is left on the ground it’s too late if they pick it up or step on it.

“Another of my friends has three kids under four, it’s really hard.

“If she has to take them to the toilet she has three kids, including a toddler and a newborn, to watch.

“And it’s not just the toilets the needles are being left in. People who are walking their dogs around the Adventure Playground and Peace Park have found used needles lying around on the ground as well.”

Ms Burton said the group wants council to install safe needle disposal units, not just in the parks but all around town.

“We need things in place so this drug paraphernalia isn’t being left around,” she said.

Among the changes the group would like to see is UV lighting installed in public toilets (making IV drug injection more difficult) and, in the long term, the installation of CCTV cameras around parks and security patrols.

Ms Burton said the group would also support the installation of an injecting room somewhere in the city.

“We are trying to be proactive and get these people off the streets and into appropriate areas,” she said. “If it stops people leaving dirty needles around, it makes the community safer for everyone.”

Ms Burton said the group had contacted Bathurst MP Paul Toole and was in the process of penning a letter to the local member to outline their views. 

“That’s the next step,” she said.

In relation to discarded needles, a spokesperson for council said yesterday that maintenance and inspections in all council  parks is undertaken on a regular basis, ranging from daily to weekly or fortnightly.

In addition to regular asset inspections and maintenance works, the spokesperson said council attends to all instances of defects or safety issues that are reported.

The spokesperson said sharps disposal facilities were available in all public toilets owned and maintained by council.