CARNIVAL organisers at Lyme Regis have again called for the mural painted during carnival week to be allowed to stay up all year.

Officials say the town council is wrong to insist that the mural be painted over after every carnival, because it shows what living and working in Lyme Regis is about.

Carnival committee secretary Paul Bohane said: "It represents the pleasure that many people get from living and holidaying in Lyme Regis and shows the good of people living in our town."

Mr Bohane said the carnival committee had offered to put a plaque on the mural on Marine Parade explaining what it was about but said the offer has always been declined by the town council, who insist that the mural be painted over by September every year.

He said the mural brightened up the area near the shelters, which is boarded up pending engineering works, and that last year the Times travel supplement said the mural was one of the sights to see in Dorset.

Electrician and regular seafarer Tim Mayers said that from out at sea the mural blended in to the overall scene, whereas when it was painted over it looked like "a big white blank".

But chairman of the town council's policy committee Owen Lovell said the authority took the decision to have the mural painted over after it was left one year and "became an eyesore, rather than an asset".

He said the mural had begun to peel off and people had done things to it that made it look "far from artistic".

Coun Lovell said the town council was responsible for the presentation of the sea front and had made the decision to have it painted over in September because bad weather later in the year made it too difficult to remove.

He said: " Really it comes down to a little bit of trust and common sense and the council's wishes being adhered to."