BAXENDEN’S Christmas tree has been damaged by vandals.

It is the third festive feature to be wrecked in Hyndburn in just two weeks.

Lights were torn from the 25 feet tall tree, at the junction of Manchester Road and Southwood Drive, and branches on the tree were snapped and ripped away.

A spokesman for Hyndburn Council confirmed damage has been caused, and said plans were in place to fix them.

A crib was vandalised with graffiti and flipped over in Oswaldtwistle at some point on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning last week. And a Christmas tree in Rishton was vandalised hours after its lights were switched on by the mayor of Hyndburn, on Friday, November 29.

Local councillor Terry Hurn said the location of the Baxenden tree, which cost £3,000 to wire up and to install, will now be reconsidered.

He said: “I’m very disappointed that [the perpetrators] felt the need to damage the Christmas decorations. It’s just adding to the cost.

“The tree is close to some cameras but I have not had a response from the police yet. It’s been reported to the police and it s case of somebody coming back to us.

“This has not happened before, but it’s only the second year it’s been at that spot.

“We didn’t have a problem last year at all. We will have a meeting in the new year and see what we can do to prevent it happening again.”

Leader of Hyndburn Council, Coun Miles Parkinson, said: “It’s disappointing that, at a time when the council and community comes together in Baxenden and other parts of Hyndburn, certain elements try and spoil it.”

A police spokesman said yesterday the incident in Rishton was not being treated as a crime.

She said: “The lights worked at switch on but there was a glitch and they stopped working. There were lots of rumours of criminal damage but there was no evidence found.”

But councillor Ken Moss hit back: “They have definitely been vandalised. Photographs show the lights have been ripped off and sheared right through. It’s very odd the police have said that.

“I can say, hand-on-heart, the lights have been vandalised.”