The other day, as I walked up from Sainsbury's in Brighton's New England Quarter, I was appalled to see the kind of "gangsta rap graffiti art" that openly glamorises violence on the hoardings that surround the building site.

I phoned the number of QED, the developer named on the hoardings, and asked to speak to the site manager. He was not available, but the man I spoke to told me the hoardings were the responsibility of the council. I don't know whether this is true or whether the hoardings stem from a joint decision.

However, at a time when Britain has seen an unprecedented wave of gangland killings of teenagers, including the gunning down of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, it is sickening and highly irresponsible to have this kind of "art" glamorising violence on public hoardings. Especially when the council is at least partly involved in the development of the site.

There are two hoardings that offend me most. One depicts three young black guys, faces covered by bandannas, firing machine guns from a car. The second is of a young black man toting a gun.

Clearly, the developers are either trying to be "down with the kids" or to pre-empt vandalism.

This is beside the point. The signal this "art" sends is that gang violence and guns are cool and this is undoubtedly a contributory factor in the wave of gangland killings of young men plaguing the country.

I might add that the "graffiti art" also panders to negative stereotypes of young black men, hardly the kind of role models we need. It is far from the kind of image a city such as Brighton and Hove, which prides itself on diversity, should be promoting.

Please help me in calling for the hoardings to be removed as quickly as possible.

  • Paul Gould, Leopold Road, Brighton