A city councillor has called for action on park safety, saying it is only a matter of time before someone is “seriously hurt”, after two children were allegedly assaulted by a group of boys.

Police said they were contacted at about 6am yesterday to a report of an assault that occurred at Melbourne Park in Carlisle at about 7.30pm the night before.

The group of boys that the children were allegedly assaulted by are believed to be in their early teens, police said.

The two children sustained minor injuries.

Carlisle City Councillor for Botcherby and Harraby North, Jack Paton, said parks across the city need to be made into safer spaces.

“Something needs to be done about this," said Cllr Paton.

“It’s not just Melbourne park, it’s across the city that this is happening."

“It’s just not acceptable.

“The more pressure we can put on this with the police and other bodies, then the more chance we will have of nipping this in the bud before it gets to a stage where, either someone is seriously hurt, or God-forbid, even killed.”

Cllr Paton said that it “goes without question” that parks should be a safe space for the community.

He added: “It [the park] should be a safe place to go, and the last thing we want in Carlisle is gangs of bullies terrorising people just because they think it’s clever, or they think it makes them look big.

“These things have been happening quite a lot.

“A park should be a safe place to go. Not just for the children, but for adults and families with young children.

“It should be a safe place to go, but the the way things are going now, it is not.

“If we’ve got gangs of bullies terrorising people just because they think they can get away with it, then people are going to stop going to the park."

A crime has been recorded and anyone with information or who witnessed the incident should contact police on 101, quoting incident number 22 of 16 June.