Ross residents have expressed their anger at vandals who have spray painted a number of ‘tags’ on public and private property around the town.

Last week, the Ross Gazette reported that police were investigating after someone had spray painted ‘NXM4’ on several locations around Ross-on-Wye town centre. The Gazette has received several further reports from police since, which detail subsequent incidents of graffiti.

The Venue in Hill Street, which is owned and maintained by Ross Baptist Church, has had several ‘tags’ spray painted on to the building’s exterior.

The Venue’s Vincent Tweed told the Gazette that ‘NXM4’ was the first tag to be sprayed on to the building, and this was done last Thursday. He said that since then, further tags, ‘OTG’ have been added to the front and rear of the building.

This has caused a great deal of anguish for the team at Ross Baptist Church. Vincent and Reverend Neil Bennett explained that the Baptist Church have invested a great deal of time and expense in to making The Venue an asset for the community.

Last year, the panels and windows were replaced in a large-scale renovation project.

Vincent told the Gazette:?“Unfortunately, we’ve had a lot of people who drop litter outside, and the graffiti spoils it for everyone.”

He added:?“These people don’t show any respect for other people’s property, or for the environment.”

Vincent added that the building is used by many groups as well the Baptist Church. A pilates class takes place frequently, the Penyard Singers and Ross Gig Club occasionally use The Venue to put on concerts, and the centre is also sometimes booked for private parties. “We don’t want to see it spoilt,” Vincent said.

The Venue is just one of many locations around Ross town centre where tags have been spray painted on to surfaces. Graffiti has been found on road signs, phone boxes and on front doors of homes.

One local resident contacted the police after they found evidence of spray paint on their private property on Cawdor Hill. The graffiti was discovered on a garden fence panel.

This took place between 6pm on Monday, July 25th and 8am on Tuesday, July 26th. If you have any further information about this incident, please contact the police by calling:?103-S-260716.

Another local resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, contacted the Ross Gazette, furious about the graffiti. He said:?“We’re getting a bit fed up with the few ‘dregs of society’ that think it is acceptable to spoil our town for everyone else. I moved to Ross to have a family as it had reputation as a pleasant place to live.”

He added:?“It’s disappointing to see more mindless vandalism throughout the town over the weekend. Surely they were caught on CCTV?

“They should be made to remove all traces of graffiti, then clean the town, with 100 hours community service. This sort of behaviour is totally unacceptable, especially in Ross.”