Bristol city council has decided to let the public vote on the subject of murals on buildings, walls and fences before these are scrubbed clean or painted over. If citizens like it, the artwork will be kept in its public place.

As part of the city’s formal street-art policy “to seek to define and support the display of public art”, the council is saying “where people tell us that murals or artworks make a positive contribution to the local environment, and where the property owner has raised no objection” the work will remain.

Photographs of the street art will be posted on the website of the city and the public will asked to make a choice.

The policy concerning street art was started after a Banksy painting appeared on a council-owned property in 2005, igniting debate over whether it should stay.

At the time, the council had set up an online survey, which resulted in 93% positive answers. The artwork stood.

“We have said informally that if it is street art that people like we will keep it but we want to formalise it now into a policy,” said councillor Gary Hopkins.

“People want us to keep up the war against the taggers so we have had to work out a way to differentiate between the taggers and the artists”.