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Half this cost is related to security to actively stop people looking at the art work. If it's not acceptable for banksy to cost tax payers £50k to remove the graffiti, why is acceptable for the powers that be to waste another £50k on security to stop anyone seeing it?

And if that ruins the character of the building, why is the fence acceptable?

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Probably to stop people rocking up and cutting them out of the buildings

That's true, though it's worth noting that Banksy's pest control – the people who certify that an artwork is legitimate – will always identify anything not meant to be sold as a fake, so resale is a lot more limited than anything meant for galleries and auctions.

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