A vandalised bench is so badly damaged it will have to be replaced - but a council said it not would not stop them trying to improve a Norfolk town.

The bench in the Memorial Park in North Walsham, which was widely used by the elderly and disabled, including a woman with a guide dog, was targeted earlier this week.

A North Walsham Town Council spokesman said: 'Although we feel very disappointed that the bench has been vandalised, the council is not discouraged and will not let the vandals undermine our efforts to improve the town.

'The council is investigating replacing the vandalised bench with an eco-friendly bench made from recycled materials.'

There was no inscription on the bench, which is believed to have been erected in the mid 1990s.