VANDALS who destroyed the ornamental fountain in John Coles Park, Chippenham, will not get the better of the town council, according to its head of service delivery Ray Lane.

The stone fountain in the ornamental pond was broken when someone jumped over the park fence and pushed it over late at night.

The fountain smashed to pieces when it hit the ground.

But Mr Lane said the fountain would be replaced within the next fortnight and the council would not be deterred by vandals.

"We would never stop replacing things because people vandalised them as that would be a negative course of action and then we would end up having no playgrounds," he said.

The council was upset by the damage caused in Chippenham's prettiest park.

"It is very annoying because it was put there for people's pleasure and it costs us money to replace it, but we will still replace it as soon as we can," said Mr Lane.

He said the council do everything it can to protect the park but if people want to get in they will.

"We lock the gates at night and have park wardens there when it is open but we can't do any more than that," he said.

But Mr Lane said it was a one-off incident and hopefully would not happen again. "We do not suffer from a lot of vandalism and this was an isolated incident," he said.

The new fountain is now on order and once it is delivered to the council it will be placed back in the park.

Mr Lane said the new fountain will be of the same ornate design as the vandalised one, with three tiers of dishes.

"There is a small dish at the top and the water trickles into the ones below and then into the pond," he said.

"It is very pretty to look at."