'Vibrant' mural makeover for area plagued by graffiti

A town centre area plagued by graffiti is being transformed with a "vibrant" community mural.

The feature in St Helens, Merseyside, will feature the message Welcome to St Helens, along with nods to the town's heritage, such as images of Jaume Plensa's Dream sculpture and the World of Glass museum.

It is being produced by professional artists including Tom Glynn, working alongside young people.

St Helens Council deputy leader Sharon Roughley said: "We want to make St Helens a lot brighter but, also, I think it's really good for the community to come together and make something that's quite beautiful and vibrant."

She said the graffiti daubed on the car park underpass on Chalon Way West "really does put people off coming to the town centre".

Roughley said the mural would also include an image of a miner as "a lot of children won't remember the heritage that we actually had with the mines, so again, looking back we can see where we were, how far we've come".

Roughley said the Dream was also included to symbolise how the people of the town can "dream about things".

The Dream, which features a young girl's head looking out across the M62, stands on the former spoil heap of the old Sutton Manor Colliery.

The mural project has been commissioned by the council and will be delivered by St Helens-based community groups Powered by Hiphop and Kingsyze Graffiti, working in partnership with local youth organisations VIBE, REACH and the YMCA.

Tom Glynn, director of Powered by Hiphop, said he hoped the project would help to tackle vandalism at the site and "a big part is keeping on top of it any time that anything happens as well, so it's that constant maintenance but that community involvement that is the key to it being a success".

The council said: "Community-led murals have been shown to discourage vandalism, strengthen local identity and encourage residents to take pride in shared community spaces."

Work on the mural is expected to take about three weeks to complete.

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