VANDALS have targeted flower planters in Billericay High Street in what appears to be a drunken prank.
Flowers in the two planters, near the former Somerfield premises, were damaged when yobs took it upon themselves to lie down across the flowers.
Although it will not cost Billericay Town Council a lot of money to repair the damage, it is an unnecessary cost to the taxpayer, said Councillor Jules Bottazzi.
"It's really annoying that people are making us spend money on something that was nice in the first place, they have just wrecked it," she said.
"It's not going to cost us loads of money to repair, probably under £100, but it's a shame, it appears to happen quite a lot.
"You would think it might be people who have got a bit drunk and decided to dive-bomb some flowers."
The damage was first spotted on August 27 and it appears the vandals struck over the bank holiday weekend.
"It looks as if someone has lain down across them, we've asked the police to look into it to see if they have got any CCTV images," added Mrs Bottazzi, who is the chairman of the town council's environment committee.
It is not the first time the planters have been hit by such a prank, according to town council chairman Councillor John Buchanan, who also claimed plants have been stolen from them in the past.
"We talked about it at the last environment committee meeting and we thought that's ridiculous, we ought to let people know what idiots we have got in Billericay," he said.
"It's a nuisance. We have got people lying down in them and people stealing the plants.
"They steal them because they think they would look good in their garden."
Mr Buchanan insisted the town council would not let the vandals win.
"The cost of repair does come out of people's council tax, but we don't let vandals beat us," he said.
"We go back and fix it.
"If it's Billericay people causing the damage, they are making us spend their money on repairing their vandalism."
