A public park will be locked in the evenings after vandals targeted community benches.
Two community benches have been targeted by vandals this week, which means the recreation ground gates will now be locked each evening.
Hellesdon Parish Council has reported the damage to the police after the bench at the top end of the recreation ground near to Nursery Close was completely uprooted on Sunday evening.
Another bench has also been vandalised with the back rest being removed.
A replacement bench is expected to cost between £450 and £650, in addition to the costs of labour to install a new one.
Parish clerk Natasha Carver said the caretaker was on site until 5pm so it was expected the vandalism took place after 5.30pm. The council were informed at 7.30am on Monday.
She said: "As a parish council, we have been spraying the back of the benches every day with sanitiser to ensure they are cleaned.
"We have been trying to go that extra bit further to ensure they are Covid safe, so for the residents of Hellesdon, this [vandalism] is upsetting.
"The back will be fixed and people will be able to use it again as they are such well-used facilities in the park."
Hellesdon Parish Council posted on social media to say all access gates to the recreation ground would now be locked from 6pm each evening in response to the damage.
The gates will then be opened the following morning at 8am, with the post apologising for any inconvenience caused, but also stressing the council was "left with no other alternative".
"These needless acts of vandalism/anti-social behaviour are costly to the parish and have now been reported to the police," the post added.
It is not the first time the benches at the recreation ground have been targeted with a couple of the benches being flattened in the summer of 2019.
Catton Park has also recently been targeted recently with part of an engraved bench being removed during the last week of February.
A spokeswoman for Norfolk Police said: "Police were called following reports of criminal damage to two benches at Hellesdon overnight on Sunday
"Between the hours of 5pm on Sunday and 8am on Monday, March 8, one bench was uprooted and another had the back removed."
Anyone with information can call PC Claire Smith at Norfolk Constabulary on 101 quoting crime reference 36/14780/21.
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