\n Hastings Borough Council\u2019s foreshore team later put up a Perspex screen to protect the piece after it was vandalised.\n<\/p>\n
\n The artwork has a protective screen over it(Image: Hastings Borough Council)\n<\/p>\n
\n The foreshore team now completely cover the piece during winter to protect it from the elements and unveil it again during spring, where it can be seen through a protective Perspex screen.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, the council says this screen has been “repeatedly vandalised” this year, damaging the artwork and costing extra money in repairs.\n<\/p>\n
\n A photo of the artwork taken in 2010(Image: Wikimedia)\n<\/p>\n
\n Hastings Borough Council posted on Facebook: “You might know that there is a Banksy mural on beach steps in St Leonards.\n<\/p>\n
\n “To help preserve this, a protective screen is in place, and over winter each year it is covered completely to give extra protection from the high tides and stormy weather.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Unfortunately, this year, the protective screen has been repeatedly vandalised, potentially damaging the artwork, and costing money for repairs that could be spent supporting the community.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The work has drawn many visitors over the years(Image: Wikimedia)\n<\/p>\n
\n Councillor Glenn Haffenden, leader of the council and lead councillor for community safety, called the repeated vandalism “disappointing.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Councillor Haffenden said: “The Banksy is a loved feature for residents.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Steps are taken to protect it as a piece of art, so it is disappointing that the protective screen is repeatedly damaged, causing unnecessary cost and potentially harming the artwork.\n<\/p>\n
\n “If you are aware of any incidents of vandalism anywhere in the borough, please report them to us via https:\/\/my.hastings.gov.uk\/MyServices.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The image of a little girl building sandcastles with the word ‘Tesco’ on them first appeared on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-204055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}