Red paint incidents at County Hall costs taxpayer £10,000's
We don't know the full extent of the costs - but the local authority have had to pay out for the three incidents, which have happened in recent months
It's been confirmed Somerset Council are having to pay £10,000s of taxpayers money to restore the Grade-II listed County Hall.
It follows three incidents in recent months, in which protestors have sprayed red paint on the building.
They've been making the message to the local authority - calling for them to sever their links with an arms firm with links to Israel - which occupies a building owned by the council, after it was transferred to them when the unitary authority came into being back in April 2023.
Last week, the council was forced to apologise to Elbit Systems UK - after wrongly suggesting it provided weapons to the country.
In a statement sent to us, Somerset Council said: "The cost of cleaning up the first two incidents was £13,300.
"We’ve had to use a specialist cleaning company for some of it because it’s a listed building and we have to be careful with some of the brickwork so they need to use particular cleaning products.
"There has been a third incident but we haven’t yet had it cleaned and so we don’t yet have a cost.
"The total cost will be lower than £20,000, but can’t put a precise number at this stage."
Police tell us there is currently no update in their work to find those responsible for the incidents, adding enquiries are ongoing.
Read more: County Hall vandalised in red for the third time