Ten years since ‘£200k” Banksy artwork was removed from Clacton building

In October 2014, a piece created by world-famous graffiti artist Banksy appeared on a boathouse in Clacton. The satirical painting showed a group of pigeons holding up anti-immigration placards saying “Go back to Africa”, “Migrants go home” and “Keep off our worms”, while an African swallow looks on. It was painted on a boathouse owned by Tendring Council at West Beach. Art – the piece Banksy created (Image: Banksy) But the artwork was quickly removed by the council, which said a resident had complained the stencil was “racist”. The mural, which art experts at the time believed could have been worth about £200,000, was painted over before Banksy confirmed it was by him on his website. Banksy created the mural in the build-up to a by-election in the constituency, which was won by Ukip. The council received about 40 messages from the public about the mural, with just one in favour of its actions. At the time, Nigel Brown, Tendring Council’s then-communications manager, said the council had received a complaint that “offensive and racist” remarks had been painted on one of its seafront buildings. He said: “The site was inspected by staff who agreed it could be seen as offensive...