A pedestrian bridge was smashed up the day after it was installed in what has been described as "sickening vandalism".

The £8,000 wooden walkway had been constructed by Ashford Borough Council (ABC) at the Dene, St Michaels, after Tenterden town councillor Ken Mulholland raised concerns about the state of the old pathway in June.

The pathway crosses a dip in a glade between the recreation ground and housing beyond in the Leslie Crescent and Chalk Avenue areas.

"It is well used by lots of people from dog walkers to parents with buggies," said Cllr Mulholland, who represents St Michaels ward.

"The old path was worn, uneven and chipped in places and it crosses a boggy area that becomes waterlogged in winter, so I raised the issue with the town council, who informed ABC.

"ABC acted very quickly and installed a wonderful bridge, which took about a week to complete.

"The bridge was very beneficial but vandals smashed the handrails up immediately after the area re-opened.

"The vandalism is sickening and the repairs will all have to come out of ratepayers' money."

The damage was discovered last Wednesday, just one day after work was finished by ABC on Tuesday. Tenterden town council posted on its Facebook page: "Absolutely disgusting! Brand new walkway installed by Ashford Borough Council trashed overnight."

An ABC spokesman confirmed that £1,000 of damage had been inflicted on the walkway that cost £8,000 to construct and that while the kickboards would be replaced, the handrail would not be re-instated due to the costs involved.

It comes as St Michaels endured a spate of anti-social behaviour in September with yobs, labelled "feral" by a resident, blocking Grange Road and hurling objects at cars, as well as placing a bike on the village hall roof.

There are now calls to extend CCTV coverage in Tenterden to St Michaels and when Tenterden Town Council's (TTC) external committee met on October 8 it agreed to approach ABC about installing cameras in the village.

Tenterden's CCTV cameras are due for a major upgrade, which should be completed in the first quarter of next year and a spokesman for Tenterden Town Council said: "While we are not responsible for the maintenance of the bridge, we are increasingly concerned at vandalism in the area, which we will be reviewing with our police forum."