A ‘MINDLESS’ act of vandalism of a heritage trail in Knuzden Playing Fields has been slammed.

Councillors have spoken out after people defaced the Stanhill Heritage Trail which had two of its information boards smashed and groups of nearby plants damaged.

The trail, which is 3.5 miles long, runs from the former prisoner of war camp in Knuzden, which housed Germans during the Second World War, to the cottage where James Hargreaves invented the Spinning Jenny.

A £32,300 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund was secured by the Stanhill Village Residents Association, and more than £4,000 in private donations went towards funding the route.

Costs to repair the damage to the trail has been estimated to be in the hundreds.

Cllr Paul Thompson, who represents St Oswalds and reported the crime, said: “I’m disgusted that someone would do something so mindless and disrespectful.

“The Stanhill Village Resident’s Association put so much time and effort to secure the funding and with one fell swoop someone has ruined everything.

“I will be calling the police to see if we can get more coverage on this area because this isn’t the first incident we’ve had in the area.

“About three weeks ago slabs were smashed and stolen from Stanhill Memorial Park, this needs to end.

“I hope whoever is responsible for this is caught and gets the punishment they deserve.”

The trail was launched on July 9 by Cllr Tim O’Kane, the Mayor of Hyndburn, and will have its first guided tour today.

County Cllr Peter Britcliffe, who represents part of Hyndburn and helped to secure funding, said: “It’s despicable, completely out of order and there’s no rationale for when someone does something so needless.

“The whole point for securing the trail was that residents could be proud of the culture and history in Knuzden but that’s been ruined.”

Richard Hooper, secretary for the association, said: “This panel was destroyed at Knuzden Playing Fields just before our first organised walk.

“We also observed destruction to adjacent trees, saplings that were ripped out.” and other acts of vandalism across the Stanhill area.

“The approximate replacement cost for the panels will be hundreds of pounds.

“It has taken us three years of effort to get our grant along with private funding to celebrate our historic area, and it will take more than a few mindless idiots to spoil this.”