A brightly coloured mural has split local opinion in a Teignbridge village.

The artwork on a 74-foot hoarding outside the Ocean BMW site in Kingskerswell has been painted over the past week.

The design, which spells out ‘Kingskerswell’ in bold bright lettering interspersed with pictures of local wildlife and landmarks, has divided villagers.

Some have described the mural as an eyesore that is too bright and not in keeping with the village and suggested that ‘a more subtle work of art might have been more appropriate’.

Villagers have commented that the mural makes it feel ‘like you’re entering the Bronx’ or ‘a ghetto’ and that it ‘brings down the tone of the village’. Others have likened the hoarding to racetrack signage.

However, others have welcomed the addition of a bit of colour to the village pointing out that the art is ‘better than graffiti’ and that it looks better than a plain, shabby wall and ‘the rubbish that was there before’.

The mural project came in response to villagers’ requests to paint the blank hoarding outside the site. It was initially painted a plain white, but there were fears that the clean wall would attract graffiti vandals.

So, Kingskerswell Parish Council and BMW, which owns the site near Aldi, decided to commission an artist to brighten the wall up and appointed contemporary street artist Gus Szabo, known as Szabotage.

His work has appeared all over the world as well as around Devon at Preston Sands and Brixham College.

The project was jointly funded by Kingskerswell Parish Council, who contributed around £2,000 to the cost of the project, and BMW.