THIEVES have stolen children's carved wooden furniture destined for a new outdoor classroom set in a community beauty spot.

The wooden chairs and toadstool seats had been carefully hewn from a Victoria Road tree, recently felled as part of controversial changes to Saltaire's main street, and were to be used at Hirst Wood, Saltaire.

Wooden fence panels worth £800 were also taken, which were going to be used to form a safe perimeter for the green space created by an army of volunteers from the award-winning Hirst Wood Regeneration Group.

Its work at the one acre site, which is beside the canal locks at the bottom of Hirst Lane, has recently earned it £25,000 from waste management group Biffa and a Duke of York’s Community Initiative Award.

Group secretary Pauline Bradley-Sharp said Bradford Council woodlands workers had cut the little chairs and toadstools which were waiting with the fencing panels and ready to be put in place.

"How can anyone be so mean?

"Someone saw them last week and just cleared them away. It must have been someone from outside the area as we have tremendous support and I'm sure no-one local would have done it," said Mrs Bradley-Sharp.

"There were £800 of fencing and a dozen little seats and some flower planters which were going to put in our outdoor classroom area.

"And some wooden slices of the Victoria Road tree were also taken, which were to be used by children from Saltaire Primary School.

"It just spoils things, it's rotten.

"Were hoping to get the outdoor classroom and the whole place ready so it would compliment Saltaire World Heritage weekend in the summer. But now we've got to start fundraising all over again.

"I don't know if the people who stole this can have feelings, but if they have any heart they'll bring all the stuff back."

Shipley councillor Kevin Warnes (Green) is a keen supporter of group and said it was "a truly horrible theft."

"Local people have put a lot of hours into a community project which has created a wonderful space and this is a real shame.

"Somehow the trivial taking of the children's little seats somehow makes the theft even more of a shame," Cllr Warnes said.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said anyone with information regarding the theft, which happened between 2pm and 3pm on Monday, February 16, or any other recent thefts of outdoor property, should contact their Neighbourhood Policing Team or call 101.