Only a day after Littleton Gardens rung to the sounds of Christmas carols and fun family entertainment, unknown vandals broke and damaged six of the young trees in the public space.

Council workers removed the destroyed limbs and trunks on Saturday morning for safety reasons and council general manager Leanne Barnes said the council is now assessing appropriate replacements.

“We got in touch with police to see if the vandals might have been caught on CCTV cameras at Woolies, but we haven’t heard anything back yet,” Ms Barnes said.

“These trees were just getting established and starting to provide shade

“An estimate of the cost to replace the trees with some of a similar type and size is about $500-1000 each.

“The other option we’re looking into is investing in more mature trees,” she said.

 “We really want to make it into a vibrant place and we would hope the whole community can respect that and enjoy watching the heart of Bega grow.”