As the dispute rumbles on between Monmouthshire County Council and tenants of Beaufort Arms Court, regarding the installation of scaffolding to the rear of the Shire Hall, graphics have been fitted to the perimeter hoarding that surrounds the site.

Part of the scheme to reduce the visual impact of the scaffolding and exterior works, the design incorporates images of various people looking at facts and photographs of the history of the Shire Hall and Agincourt Square. Conceived and illustrated by Platform One; printed and installed by Chillipepper Signs, both Monmouth companies, the graphics are intended as an accompaniment to the shrouds, which will cover the structures overlooking the Square and Agincourt Street, to be installed when agreement is reached for the construction of restraining pillars in Beaufort Arms Court.

As the hoarding was being decorated on the morning of Christmas Eve, it attracted a great deal of interest and compliments from passers-by, many of whom were visitors to Monmouth.

Within four days, vandals had been about their mindless work, wrenching and breaking some of the characters from the walls, necessitating some remedial work by the Platform One team on Sunday afternoon.

The idea for the hoarding and shrouds was inspired by the concern of independent traders that their businesses would be seriously affected while the work is carried out.

The designers at Platform One and Monmouthshire County Council believed that they could turn a negative into a positive by creating an attraction and devising a competition, open to residents and visitors over the next year, which will help promote Monmouth and particularly help the businesses at the top of Monnow Street.

They were, therefore, disappointed to discover that the pointless stupidity of an individual, or minority group, has already damaged a very worthwhile project, especially when the country is on the threshold of a recession.

Hopefully, anyone who witnesses future vandalism – which includes a spate of breakages to shop windows throughout the town – will be sufficiently community-minded to name and shame the perpetrators to the police or local authorities, so that the graphics can be enjoyed by all for the next twelve months.