There are high hopes that graffiti will be reduced in the town, now that there is a legal site where artists can show off their work.

A thirty foot wall has been opened in the old Swindon Contractor's landscape depot at Mannington, after local councillor Dave Cox took up calls from West Swindon beat policeman Rob Mortimer and Phil Connor for young people to be provided with a place to paint graffiti. For many years the council turned a blind eye to graffiti on the barn at Toothill Farm until residents mounted a campaign to have it stopped.

The new wall has been painted over several times since artists started using it in mid-July, and there are graffiti 'pieces' on the wooden fencing surrounding the site. Unfortunately the vandals who scribble 'tags' on public property across the town have also defaced the artists' work.

One young person, who refused to be named, welcomed the wall but pointed out that it is five times smaller than the Toothill barn. "There are lots of artists around but they need to see their work on display for two or three weeks before it is painted over. Each piece costs maybe £30 in paint, so if it's up for a couple of days, they will look for other places where it can be shown off for longer.

"I really hate the tagging around Toothill, it gives us a bad name. But there will always be stupid people intent on vandalism." Another artist said, "this is a great site with a lot of potential. It would be good if the council could look at a skate park or some kind of youth building."

Council leader Sue Bates said the Mannington site was a first step. "This is an attempt to respond to the needs of our diverse community. Well painted graffiti in the right place is art, but defacing public and private property is totally illegal and must be stopped.

"We will be looking at what else can be done to give an outlet to the creativity of young people in Swindon."