CIVIC leaders in Pickering claim the vandals responsible for a recent spate of attacks in the town could be doing more damage than they realise.

They say the vandals are wrecking the town's appearance and are putting visitor numbers at risk.

In the latest attack, a public notice board attached to the town's library in the Ropery was smashed - just a day after it had been installed.

Earlier vandals had sprayed indecent graffiti across coping stones by the newly refurbished Riverside Walk.

Town mayor Betsy Hill urged the vandals to stop.

"We all live here and it just gives the town a bad name," she said. "We are trying to help young people by getting them improved facilities - if they don't work with us, we can't work for them."

Town clerk Andrew Husband said his concern was that time and money spent on cleaning up acts of vandalism ultimately hit council tax payers in the pocket.

"The complete removal of the graffiti will take time as the chemical has permeated the stone," he said. "The broken notice board can easily be replaced but the costs of removal and repair will have to be met by local taxation. The vandals have cost the council money which could be better spent."

But he said there was an even greater problem being created by the vandals which he said was far more worrying.

"These two acts of vandalism are located in one of Pickering's main reception areas for visitors - they could make visitors think twice about returning," he said.

"Money has been spent in this town to refurbish the old surgery, the railway station in Park Street, the Memorial Hall and Riverside Walk. These are now attractive areas for visitors and residents.

"Pickering's economy is heavily dependent on tourism - vandalism detracts from this attractive environment. The fewer number of visitors we receive the greater the consequences for jobs in the town in the near future and in the longer term."

Mr Husband urged the culprits to stop vandalising parts of the town.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said though there had been few reports of vandalism officers were aware of a problem in the town. "We do have ways of tackling vandalism and this is something we will be considering in the future," he said.

"We would urge people to report these crimes - even if they seem minor - because it helps us establish whether there is a problem and may be the piece in the jigsaw we need to prevent it from happening again."

Updated: 10:02 Thursday, November 15, 2001