Councillors have agreed to divert an additional £3,000 to this year's fund to cover the costs of providing the service free of charge to the public.

They feel the fact that the service has run out of money is an indication of how successful it has been in helping the victims of vandals across Moray.

But one church which has called on the council to help remove offensive slogans on numerous occasions would be glad never to use it again.

St Giles Church in Elgin is continually being targeted by yobs, and the walls of the historic building are vandalised again as soon as they are cleaned.

Rev George Rollo said the church was now being forced to look at ways of protecting the A-listed building as a result of the damage being caused.

It is hoped that railings can be placed on the steps, where gangs of young people tend to congregate, and a disabled access ramp can be incorporated.

There were railings there in the past, but as with many such features, they were removed to help with the war effort. However, it is unclear whether their reinstatement would be supported by planners and Historic Scotland.

St Giles has previously investigated putting a coating on the walls to make it easier to remove the graffiti, but that idea was abandoned over fears that it could cause the ashlar stone to change colour.

Mr Rollo said church members were dismayed by the actions of the vandals. "It's very sad. If you go back 20 years, the church was respected, and now there are obscenities written all over the walls.

"The windows have been broken, and things are always being thrown up onto the spikes we have in place to stop pigeons nesting above the doors. We have removed cans, plastic bottles, school bags, condoms and trainers.

"Some of what has been written on the walls is quite disgusting, and we are sad that the church is being treated in this very disrespectful way.

"We used to remove the graffiti ourselves, but now we have a standing arrangement with the council that they will come out and attend to it. They come two or three times a year."

Moray Council has been providing a free graffiti removal service since 2005, after securing government funding to tackle anti-social behaviour.

The council wanted to do something that recognised that the owners of property affected by graffiti were the victims of crime, and that to impose the financial cost of removing it on them could be seen as "punishing the victim".

Staff from the direct labour organisation run the service – which is available to the owners of any property – and their workload is steadily increasing. Staff time is the major cost factor.

Councillor Eric McGillivray told the communities committee on Wednesday that exhaustion of the budget could be seen as something positive.

He added: "This report looks like a bad news story, with more graffiti having been removed in Moray, but it is actually a good news story, with the service in high demand.

"It also plays a major part in deterring would-be graffiti artists from using public areas as a canvas."

The meeting heard that vandalism and graffiti in Moray is decreasing, and is down 24% on last year. Anti-social behaviour officer Andy Jamieson said that they were winning the battle against graffiti, and this was borne out by the fact that streets were relatively graffiti-free.

Graffiti can be reported to the council's anti-social behaviour helpline on 0800 5877197.

l.carter@northern-scot.co.uk

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