Residents have expressed their disgust after vile graffiti containing a racist slur was sprayed in a busy retail park.

It has been painted on a path at Prospect Retail Park in Whitstable - near the Home Bargains store.

The disgusting tag - which contains the n-word - was spotted by shoppers.

Naomi Smith, from Whitstable, posted her outrage at the graffiti on Twitter yesterday.

"Shocked to see this racist graffiti at a retail park in Whitstable today," the 59-year-old wrote.

"I'm hoping that there is CCTV coverage for the area and that the owners have reported to the police. #NotMyTown"

Speaking to Kent Online, she said: "I was shocked - I thought, 'oh god, this is awful'.

"I have seen [far-right group] Generation Identity stickers around Whitstable but nothing like this.

"It looks like someone has had a go at removing it but not very successfully.

"I got in touch with George Wilson [who owns Prospect Retail Park] and he said he doesn’t own that land and he has forwarded it on."

Seasalter councillor Ashley Clark (Con) was not aware of the "vile" graffiti but said he will push for it to be removed "as soon as possible".

"It is totally unacceptable and the council will do everything possible to get this removed," he said.

"It is criminal damage but this is the aggravated form of it."

Gorrell ward councillor Chris Cornell (Lab) said: "It is truly shocking to see racist grafitti in our neighbourhood. On the most part, I find Whitstable an inclusive neighbourhood with people committed to calling out acceptable behaviour.

"We all know of groups online where some idiots post memes which are truly awful but I don’t think they are representative of our town."

A police spokesperson said the incident had not been reported to them.

Canterbury City Council spokesman Rob Davies said: "An extremely offensive racist word was sprayed on a walkway at Prospect Retail Park in Whitstable.

"We will not tolerate this and arranged for Serco to urgently remove it, which has been done.

"Tackling graffiti, and especially offensive graffiti, is a priority for us and we reacted to this as quickly as we could after it was reported to us."

Read more: All the latest news from Whitstable