VANDALS have wreaked havoc on a garden created in Minehead to mark the Millennium.

The Rose Garden just off Seaward Way is believed to have been targeted last Saturday night.

A picnic table and bench was destroyed, trellis fencing knocked down, plants trampled and a commemorative tree planted by Minehead Twinning Association to mark the death of a member from the linked French town of St Berthevin ripped up.

"The tree was planted about four years ago but it's just been broken off at the base," said Minehead Town Council clerk Sue Sanders.

"It was only planted four years ago. And the picnic table has been hacked to pieces - it's just mindless vandalism."

The damage was spotted by one of the councillors on Sunday morning.

Neighbouring Tesco supermarket is also understood to have suffered some damage, with one of its signs thrown into the nearby rhyne and branches on a birch tree at the entrance to the car park broken off.

"We've reported the incident to the police but the garden is not overlooked so it's not easy," said Mrs Sanders.

She said that since the garden was created to commemorate the dawn of the new century, four picnic tables and three seats had been destroyed and a number of trees damaged.

"It's very sad. This is an area that many people love to sit in and yet this mindless behaviour is just spoiling it."

The issue is likely to be debated by the council in the near future.

"I'm not sure we will replace the picnic table and bench," said Mrs Sanders.

"I have already offered to replace the tree but I think we will ask the twinning association to think of an alternative location, rather than planting it in the Rose Garden."