VANDALS have wrecked public toilets at a popular beauty spot.

The yobs left a trail of destruction at the block, on the St Ives estate, Harden.

They smashed the cistern in the gents’ and decimated the disabled loo.

Hundreds of pounds’ damage was caused and an emergency plumber had to be called out as water gushed from the building.

This week, sickened volunteers from the Friends of St Ives – who led a successful campaign to save the toilets when they were threatened with closure four years ago – condemned the wrecking spree.

“The toilets are an essential facility for visitors to the estate and we had to fight hard to keep them,” said Friends chairman, Mrs Pam Laking.

“More than 3,500 people signed a petition opposing the proposed closure.

“Now for this to happen is just absolutely devastating.

“It’s simply pointless, wanton vandalism. What do people gain from doing this?”

It is the second time in less than a year that the disabled toilet has been targeted.

The latest incident took place sometime overnight between Friday, June 15, and the following day.

The alarm was raised by a member of the public.

“Water was cascading everywhere,” said Mrs Laking.

“We had to get a plumber out to switch-off the supply.

“Bradford Council’s trees and woodland people now look after the toilets and do a fantastic job.

“The council will replace the damaged loos, and are considering whether there’s a more vandal-proof option that could be installed.

“But my concern is that if this kind of thing keeps happening, there’ll be a limit to how many times the council can afford to do that.

“Having campaigned so hard to keep the toilets, we don’t want to lose them now.

“Visitors to the estate include a lot of school groups, particularly from the inner city, who find it an invaluable educational resource. But if there were no toilets, they wouldn’t be able to come.

“Also, many of the thousands of visitors we welcome each year are elderly and they need toilet provision to be available.”

Mrs Laking said there had been reports of young people hanging around in the area on evenings.

She added that the issue would be raised with the police.

And she encourages anyone who sees damage being caused to report it.

Her plea is echoed by the council.

A spokesman said: “We will assess the level of damage to the toilets and look to make the necessary repairs.

“We would ask members of the public to report to the police any suspicious behaviour they see taking place on the estate.”

Bradford Council had initially planned to close the loos as part of its cost-cutting measures, but councillors granted a reprieve to the much-used facility in October, 2014.

Mrs Laking had attended a Shipley Area Committee meeting to hear the ruling.