Community leaders have condemned the “mindless” actions of vandals who defaced a Moray landmark
A series of obscene phrases and tags have been spray-painted on the underside of the Landshut Bridge in the Pansport area of Elgin over the last two weeks.
Moray Council is in the expensive process of removing the graffiti, but the authority’s leader has warned more serious security measures might be required if the vandalism continues.
Councillor Stewart Cree said: “It is disappointing that such a beautiful structure has been the target of mindless vandals scrawling typically unoriginal graffiti.
“The council may look at installing CCTV if this persists, but that does seem a waste of money just to deter the tiny-minded minority.”
The former Pansport Bridge was officially christened the Landshut Bridge last August in a celebration of Elgin’s twinning arrangement with the Bavarian town of Landshut.
The partnership, which dates back to 1956, is one of the oldest unions of its kind in Europe.
The £6million structure is designed to divert the flow of the River Lossie away from the old Brewery Bridge, as part of Elgin’s flood alleviation scheme, which is due to be completed next month.
Last night, chairman of the Elgin-Landshut twin town association Alastair Rossetter spoke of his disappointment at the attacks.
He said ongoing constriction meant the bridge area had become a “blind spot”, and lent itself to such attacks because the pedestrianised area has been blocked off and there is no flood lighting.
He added: “Hopefully, it will be an isolated incident. The positive is this graffiti cannot be seen from the road, so only pedestrians will see it, but my fear is as long as that blind spot space is blocked, it will attract this type of thing.”
Elgin South Councillor Mike Shand said: “Whoever did this doesn’t have any self-respect or pride, and they clearly don’t care about anyone else’s property, particularly civic property, no matter how good it looks.”
Fellow ward councillor Patsy Gowans said: “The bridge represents two things — flood defence and tourism. The last thing we need is negativity towards it in the form of graffiti.”
A police spokesman said officers had not received any reports about the incidents.