Thringstone residents have been left shocked and angry after a woodland bench was set on fire and destroyed in an act described as 'wanton vandalism'

The blaze comes just over a week after a similar incident in Holly Hayes Woods in Whitwick where community buildings were destroyed by fire Fire destroys Whitwick community project

It happened between 7pm last night (Monday) and 6am.

Nita Pearson, chair of the Friends of Thringstone, explained that the bench was on the Sustrans track in Grace Dieu woods and has been used by thousands of people since it was installed in the 1990s.

And she says that the fire could easily have spread to the surrounding woods, causing an 'environmental disaster'.

Nita told Coalville Nub News: "Words fail me, I just despair.

"Especially coming so soon after the Holly Hayes fire last week.

"Someone's made a concerted effort to get rid of this bench, for whatever reason. To get their thrills? I don't understand the mentality of people who vandalise things, it's distasteful.

"I like to feel that people are proud of the village they've got.

"But the more I get involved with things of late, the more I feel things have changed over the past 12 months.

"People might be bored, but that doesn't mean you go around trashing things that are community assets.

"If you look at the picture, you'll see it's surrounded by brush, and that could've caused environmental damage, that backs on to the railway line and all of those trees would've been set alight.

"It could've been an environmental disaster, they were just lucky that the bench melted down and gave off toxic fumes.

"The bench was put there by Sustrans which is a charity. When they put in the Sustrans Route through the woods in the 90s, the benches were installed at the same time as part of the development.

"Thousands of people have sat on that bench over the years. It's just past the turning to The Bull's Head. Someone knows something about this surely."

Nita feels that the lockdown restrictions of the last year have made people more aware of their communities - yet incidents like this and the amount of litter being dropped seems to be on the rise.

She added: "Some people don't seem to care, I can see this when I'm out litter picking in the village and filling bags full of rubbish.

"But this isn't a completely new thing, I remember a wheat field being set on fire in the 1980s."