CCTV cameras have been installed on Chipping Norton’s Grade II listed Town Hall to stop vandals and graffiti artists damaging it.

Town councillors say they have been shocked in recent years by spray paint and crayons being used to cover parts of the town hall in unsightly messages, and latterly by vandals scratching the walls.

Now the council has installed two cameras overlooking the back of the building in the hope of catching the culprits.

Town mayor Mike Tysoe said: “We have idiots putting graffiti all over the Town Hall.

“It cost us £2,000 to have it cleaned the last time and this is something we’ve been looking into for some years.

“We will look at the footage and if we catch them doing it we will pass it on to the police.”

Our top stories

The Town Hall requires constant attention, and maintaining it is the council’s biggest annual financial outlay.

Repairs have recently been made to the roof, the hall has been redecorated andongoing problems with flooding in the toilets attached to the hall has been stopped.

The council also spent £30,000 last year fitting new boilers.

Councillor Don Davidson said of the vandalism: “It wasn’t just paint and pastel. One or two of them had begun to dig in to the stonework.

“If we had to replace any of the stones it would be extremely expensive. We hope this is going to be a deterrent.

“I think it will work because it’s going to be well publicised.

“In the long run we hope that this will be more cost-effective than constantly having to repair and clean the building.”

The council took the decision to install CCTV at a meeting in November but the cameras have only recently been installed.

Councillors were impressed by a trial of the cameras and praised the quality of the images.

​Broadsword Security Services supplied and put up the two CCTV cameras, with a ​monitoring station in the Town Hall, at a cost of £3,230 plus an annual ​maintenance cost of £101.

It is understood the footage will be monitored by council staff.

The Town Hall was built in the 1840s and is Chipping Norton’s most iconic landmark.

The council holds monthly meetings in the hall and it is used by many community groups, including as a temporary mosque by the town’s Muslim community.