Banksy work - vote to stay or go

Members of the public are being asked to decide whether a piece of graffiti in south London attributed to Bristol artist Banksy should stay – and so far more than 85 per cent have given it their backing.

It shows a punk standing next to a box labelled IEAK, puzzling over some instructions on how to put together a graffiti slogan.

The vote is taking place in the London Borough of Sutton, despite that council normally operating a zero-tolerance policy towards graffiti.

The council, which has responsibility for scrubbing graffiti away, said it is aware that people hold strong views on the issue and believes the matter should be decided by the public.

It is inviting views on the artwork, which is in Beddington Farm Road, Sutton, close to a branch of Ikea.

The mysterious street artist's work fetches hundreds of thousands of pounds at auction and record-breaking numbers of visitors attended his exhibition at Bristol's City Museum and Art Gallery over the summer.

More than 80 people emailed the authority over the first weekend to give their opinions.

Councillor Colin Hall, executive member for environment at Sutton Council, said: "The Banksy work has really caught the imagination and we will be keeping an open mind until the end of the public vote.

"We don't tolerate graffiti in Sutton and have a pair of dedicated teams who go out daily to remove it. But we're well aware that many people see a difference between mindless tagging and work such as this. People have until the end of the month to tell us what we should do with it."

Residents can email their views to artorgraffiti@sutton.gov.uk by October 31.