ACTION to improve the state of the benches in Wellington Park is being called for after nearly half of them suffered vandalism over the past few weeks.

Town clerk Dave Farrow has been asked to arrange a debate as soon as possible for councillors to look at what can be done.

Town councillor John Thorne said six of the 15 benches in the park were now either dangerous or uncomfortable to use.

Cllr Thorne said: “Nearly all of the benches are now looking the worse for wear and are quite ugly to look at, even the ones which have not had wooden slats ripped off.

“The park is rightly considered a jewel in the crown of Wellington but at the moment the state of the benches is definitely taking some of the shine off it.

“We are well into the summer season and schools are on holiday which is when there is a peak in people using the park and I think we need to urgently look at giving the benches some tender loving care in the first instance.”

Cllr Thorne said vandalism was a persistent problem in the park and not easy to tackle as the solutions would be quite expensive.

Although the park was owned by Somerset West and Taunton Council, Cllr Thorne said the town council had set a precedent of funding some work in previous years when the district did not have enough of its own money to do it.

Cllr Thorne said there was also damage to the corner of one of the seats in the park’s Threepenny Piece shelter, an issue which recurred frequently.

Town council environment and open spaces committee chairman Cllr Mike McGuffie (CORRECT) said: “The park is a great asset to the town but the benches are looking a bit tired at the moment.

“However, I am sure that by replacing a few missing slats and repainting them they will look just as good as the rest of the park.

“I hope this can be arranged soon because the flowers in the park are looking great now and the gardeners deserve lots of credit for keeping it looking so nice despite the dry weather.”

One resident who highlighted the vandalism on social media told the Wellington Weekly: “I come to the park a lot just to relax and chill and it is such a shame that people do this to the benches.

“I only moved here a little while ago and Wellington is a lovely place to live and the town is really lucky to have such a great park.