A PARK without flowers is the bleak prospect for a town after a devastating plague of vandalism.

Four flowerbeds at Redcar's showpiece Zetland Park have been stripped of hundreds of plants, just a week after they were planted.

Flowers from five beds were uprooted in one vandalism attack last week. Twenty four hours later, with 90 per cent of the flowers replaced, the wreckers returned, damaging or stealing 350 out of 700 plants.

Adrian Smith, an infrastructure engineer at Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said it would have to be decided whether to restock the damaged beds - or to grass them over.

The cost of repairing damage and replanting beds has run to more than £800.

"There's a limit to the amount of replacements we can afford, and it's getting to that limit,'' he said.

"It has got to the stage where we are going to have to replace these beds or leave them. It's a decision to be made higher up the ladder.

"But there is only a certain amount of money if other areas are not to miss out."

Vandals attacked the beds again on Wednesday night, uprooting more than 20 plants and scattering soil over pathways and the park grounds.

Mr Smith said: "Councillors will have to be made aware of the extent of the vandalism and thefts, and decisions taken on whether the beds are grassed over. Thieves have particularly targeted busy lizzies and dahlias, stealing 70 busy lizzies and 156 dahlias.

"Staff are disgusted at the vandalism and the fact that someone could steal the plants.

"They've probably been stolen to put in their own gardens. Staff take a lot of pride growing the plants and putting them in, and to go along and see them scattered about or stolen is very disappointing.

"I cannot reason why people want continually to do this. It is beyond belief."