Officers from the Loddon Shire council put in temporary replacement planks along the platform on the Loddon River yesterday and will carry out full repairs over coming weeks.

Bridgewater General Store and Red Couch cafe owner Heather Mountjoy said residents were fed up with the spate of vandalism.

“There’s people that have gone and smashed the boards next to the swimming hole. Artworks that school children made have been stolen, there’s murals painted on the public toilets that have been graffitied. Inside the toilets there’s basins that have been spray painted black,” she said.

Loddon Shire’s manager of community and recreation development Alan Stobaus said council would be forced to replace the entire decking along the swimming platform, at a cost of about $6000.