Watch: Shropshire canal vandalised twice in two months

The sign tells people about the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust project to fix up the canal between Newport's Meretown Lock, next to the A41, to Norbury Junction on the other side of the town. However, the board was found smashed on New Year's Day.

It came just over a month after another sign at the Edgmond side of the town, behind the Shell filling station, was damaged in November.

John Myers, of the canals trust, said: "In early December the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust installed a panel next to Meretown Lock to explain to everyone what the trust's plans are for the lock, the stretch to the A41 and the length of the canal beyond.

"On New Year's morning the panel was found damaged beyond repair.

"This is the second trust panel destroyed within a few weeks. The other was sited just to the west of the town bridge in the centre of Newport and it was destroyed in a very similar way.

"Now the trust is asking itself whether it is being targeted, in spite of research that retention of the canal and its waterside environment was felt to be important or very important to 97 per cent of questionnaire respondents and of the commitment in the town plan to work to restore and extend the canal through to Norbury. The police have been informed of this damage and we hope they can find the culprits."

He confirmed the signs would be replaced and added: "I suspect the two incidents were probably not connected.

"We have rebuilt the (Meretown) lock there, dug all the dead trees out of the canal. People kept asking us what was happening so we put a display board up there in December. On New Year's morning we found it had been fairly heftily destroyed. It is a bit worrying.

"The sign is backed with a piece of aluminium which has been heavily dented so had to be hit with something hard.

"The one before was a much weaker panel and was smashed to smithereens.

"We were getting some good feedback to the signs, people have taken to them and it is usually a good idea to tell people what we are trying to do."

The trust is preparing the section of the canal by the A41for re-watering and cleared the towpath to make it safer. Workers will remove dead trees from the hedge next to the towpath, plant new trees to fill in the gaps and lay the hedge a section at a time.

"A new water supply pipe has been installed to pump water from the Strine Brook to re-water the section."

Mr Myers added: "We have a 24-and-three-quarter-mile canal we want to restore, working at different points along the canal. We have got some plans to go in, in the near future near Shrewsbury."