A spate of picnic table thefts have left taxpayers thousands of pounds out of pocket.

Park users could be forced to eat on the ground this winter after officers at Lambeth Council decided to replace the concrete benches in Streatham Vale Park with six wooden ones, all of which were detached from their metal bolts and stolen within days.

The tables were later replaced - at an estimated cost of £800 each - but only one table currently remains, following the thefts of two tables in two days.

In a letter to The Streatham Guardian, resident Dee Penman described the council’s decision to replace the tables as “a blatant waste of public money”.

She said: “In these days of severe cutbacks there is no logic to spending money on garden furniture, especially when thieves have already struck in an area.

“Perhaps the council should be ensuring that those employees with control over budgets should have foresight as a job requirement and be answerable for such a blatant waste of money.

“Two of these new tables have been stolen within days and it will be no surprise if the third soon disappears too.”

Councillor for Streatham South ward, Mark Bennett, said he would work with the council to increase security in the park and would ensure the tables were replaced.

He said: “It is obviously deeply concerning when people feel they have the right to steal what is the property of everybody.

“There is a case for better security in the park and we have, in the past, discussed introducing CCTV.

“But it is sad that you have to take these steps to make things theft-proof and vandal-proof."