Denbigh's Mount Woods area, which was renovated with the help of town groups, schools and individuals, has suffered a spate of vandalism and graffiti.

Six volunteers from Denbigh Tidy Towns kicked off their first task of 2009 with the aim of smartening up Mount Woods, after complaints from a local school that the beauty spot had become littered and untidy.

Cllr Rob Parkes, Denbigh Town Council's liaison with Denbigh Tidy Towns, reported that the group worked hard to cover the whole area and "the end result included the removal of nine bags of litter, an old iron gate and numerous other large dumped items.

"It was very sad to see that so much of the litter was in the form of beer cans and bottles," he reported.

However, Cllr Parkes added: "The group was also disgusted to see the information display boards had been vandalised and that fence posts had been removed and burnt on a large fire that was still smouldering that very morning."

Cllr Parkes described the destruction as "mindless" and said it had "ruined an excellent area that was set up partly to allow (children) to roam and learn about nature and the local wildlife".

Among the damage caused was spray painting a wrought iron gate, wooden stakes being pulled from hedging and discarded on the floor, hedging being trampled and broken, while a sign was also vandalised.

The Mount Woods project began in 2005, with funding from Cydcoed and the Forestry Commission Wales regeneration programme.

Managed by the Denbigh Community Conservation Volunteers (DCCV) with the support of Denbighshire Countryside Services, the project has created partnerships with a number of town schools and groups.

Schools and groups worked voluntarily on a variety of tasks at the site including woodland management, thinning, coppicing, planting trees, planting hedges, planting bushes, creating habitat piles, putting up bird boxes, constructing handrails, constructing steps, and groups took on individual tasks to help promote the project.

At Monday's meeting of Denbigh Town Council, deputy mayor Cllr Ian Davies said: "So much work has gone into the Mount Woods project.

"It's one of those sad things that happens."