Thieves unbolted and stole play equipment that had been installed on an Oxford estate as part of a £50,000 play area.

The equipment, which included a climbing wall, balancing bars and poles, was dismantled and taken from the Ashurst Way recreation ground, in Rose Hill, on Thursday night.

It had been bought by the city council in August last year in response to calls from residents for better facilities for local children.

The theft is the latest in a spate of attacks on facilities for children and young people in Oxford.

Oxford City Council's parks operational manager John Wade said the equipment was bolted down and it would have taken a lot of work to remove.

He added: "It's unbelievable what they've done. I've never seen anything like it before."

Liz Pladdys, chairman of the Rose Hill Residents' and Tenants' Association said: "I just can't believe it. What are the kids going to have now? They haven't got a lot to do in Rose Hill as it is.

"Sometimes it feels like fighting a losing battle here."

City councillor Ed Turner, who represents Rose Hill and Iffley, said: "It's extremely depressing. The equipment was what people were asking for and was intended to provide something for the kids to do."

Earlier this year, vandals graffitied a £5,000 youth shelter in the recreation ground, installed two years ago so young people on the estate had somewhere to meet.

The theft follows a similar incident just days before at Shepherds Hill Pre-School, based at Windale First School in Blackbird Leys.

A canoe used by children to play in was stolen last Monday and a gazebo broken.

Earlier this month, the playground at Donnington Playgroup, in Townsend Square, Oxford, was wrecked by vandals for the third time in less than a year.

The attacks happened after youngsters aged between three and five and their parents raised £3,000 to build a playhouse for the nursery school in East Oxford.

Vandals ripped up plants in the garden area which were grown by the children, tipped over the playhouse and littered the playground with rubbish.

In February, vandals damaged toddlers' bicycles after taking them from a storage shed at Wheatley Pre-School, in Littleworth Road, and riding them around until they broke.