Cable graffiti is not art

AS someone who has spent the last year endeavouring, unsuccessfully so far, to have cablecompanies' graffiti removed from the footpaths of our city, I was disappointed by Erica Wagner's article, ("Secrets of the urban sprawl", Review, 30 July).

Here in Wakefield, areas of magnificent York Stone paving and old cobbled areas as well as our ordinary footpaths have been defaced by what she describes as "street art". Ephemeral it is not. Ordinary spray paint is used, which may take years to wear away, and I for one, am not happy to confront this graffiti every time I leave my house. The real reason why our pavements are subject to this unsighly scrawl is because it is a substitute for the cost which the cable companies would otherwise incur by employing full-time, qualified supervision to oversee the works, so that existing underground services are not damaged.

Over the next few years we will also be noticing avenues of dying trees around the country following the slicing through of their roots by the unsupervised mechanical excavators of the contractors working for cable companies and the utilities.

Malcolm Jeffs

Wakefield, West Yorkshire