Residents in Stretford and its surroundings are devastated at the state of the swings in a popular park as vandals strike again and again.

A total of 16 seats have had to be replaced at Lostock Park this year, at a cost of around £1,200 to One Trafford, with no allowance in the budget for this work to be done another time until next year.

According to the partnership between Trafford Council and Amey PLC, the damage to the swings at the popular park includes the impact of dogs, who are allowed to chew on them by their owners.

In one case at Lostock Park, at the start of the school holidays, one of the seats was damaged only one day after it was repaired.

Across Trafford, almost 40 seats have had to be replaced, with all acts of vandalism at play areas costing the authorities almost £10,000 during eight months.

Alongside Friends of Lostock Park and other residents, these are appealing to the public to work with them to stop play areas becoming 'unsafe' and 'unusable'.

Cllr Stephen Adshead, the council's executive member for environmental services, said: "We work hard to keep our parks and open spaces maintained to a good standard for all to enjoy. The damage caused by this vandalism is very disappointing to see and makes the area unsafe for small children to play in. I would urge dog owners to do the right thing and keep their dog under control and keep them out of the play area.

"Our teams will always look to repair broken or failed equipment as part of their maintenance work, and I am happy to say that the swings have all been replaced. However, the time, money, and resources the partnership spends dealing with damage like this could be better spent elsewhere."

Acts of vandalism at play areas are to be reported to the council on its website. Anyone with information is also asked to contact the police on gmp.police.uk.

This article was written by Jack Tooth. Jack is the reporter for The Messenger and covers anything and everything from within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford.

To contact him, email jack.tooth@newsquest.co.uk or follow @JTRTooth on Twitter.