A £50,000 Lymington play area has been vandalised just five days after it was officially opened by children from a nearby school.

The facility, which has been installed at Meadowlands Park in Lower Buckland Road, is believed to have been damaged, following the opening ceremony attended by town mayor, Cllr Barry Dunning, and 60 pupils from Lymington Infant School.

Speaking on behalf of Lymington and Pennington Town Council which led the project, clerk Caroline Godfrey described the perpetrators’ behaviour as “totally unacceptable”.

She said: “Just a few days after we opened the park an inconsiderate group of people, who were described as youths by the person who reported them, held a barbecue on the trampoline.

“Anyone who was at the launch would know that the trampoline was the most popular piece of equipment with the children and it has now been scorched.

“Furthermore the hot coals from the barbecue were then thrown over the new grassy surface causing black marks and burns."

The town council is now urging local residents to be vigilant and report any instances of anti-social behaviour to the police.

Mrs Godfrey added: “A huge amount of public money went into creating this wonderful new park for the children and it is quite incredible to think that people are so mindless they would do this.”