A much-awaited playground has been vandalised shortly after opening.

Buccaneer Bay in Central Park, Dartford, had its lighthouse attraction damaged with graffiti during its opening weekend.

The £1.2m pirate-themed play park opened for the public on Monday, after an invite-only event on March 11, when the vandalism took place.

It comes months of anticipation after plans to revamp the old playground were announced last November.

Today, a post from Dartford Together, the council's community group on Facebook, announced: "Over the last fortnight we have had to deal with two cases of mindless vandalism that have negatively impacted on our town.

"Both offences occurred in Central Park, one at the Outdoor Theatre and the second where an individual decided to graffiti Buccaneer Bay’s lighthouse on its opening weekend.

"The council continues to invest money into improving our parks and town centre, and will not accept such behaviour. Such unnecessary damage, to any of our publicly owned areas, will not be tolerated."

"Our message is simple - this is our town and we will not allow it to be ruined by a mindless minority."

Both offenders, who were caught by security, have been ordered to pay for the damage caused.

They have also received a community resolution which will involve "giving back to the community" two hours of unpaid work supervised by police.

The statement added: "We want everybody to enjoy the town and popular destinations like Central Park’s new play area and we are committed to ensuring the environment remains in a good condition for residents to enjoy.

"Rest assured the council is equally committed to ensuring that anyone caught damaging these areas will be caught, prosecuted and made to cover the cost of any repairs and clean up required.

"Our message is simple - this is our town and we will not allow it to be ruined by a mindless minority."

Dartford council leader Jeremy Kite expressed his disappointment but commended the security response to catch the culprits.

He said: "We actually have more security there than people realize.

"Although it's obviously an open space and we want people to enjoy it and not feel inhibited, the fact is we are defending it and securing it, and I was really pleased that it worked brilliantly on its first weekend. So I'm delighted."

Cllr Kite added: "At the end of the day, I don't wish to make a big deal out of this, because people do these things. Sometimes they're mindless and sometimes it's a momentary lapse of judgement.

"But the truth is that I'm fed up with the public paying for things they didn't damage.

"So if people come to damage the park, they have to pay for it. It's as simple as that.

"It's time to twist the screw on these people who are causing this damage. They think they can get away with it. But the truth is, they can't."

A Dartford council spokesman said: "The council was made aware of vandalism in Central Park on two recent occasions, including one incident where graffiti was drawn onto the inside of the lighthouse at Buccaneer Bay on Saturday, March 11.

"The council investigates all acts of vandalism in order to put a stop to this behaviour and find the offenders.

"The cost of the damage is being repaid by the offender, who will also be carrying out two hours of unpaid work via a community resolution."