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Residents were disappointed to see the new concrete walls of the River Ribble’s £54.7million flood defences defaced with graffiti at the weekend.

Vandals left their mark on the concrete walls on the Penwortham side of the river, near Riverside Road, with the spray-painted doodles branded an ‘eye-sore’.

When complete, the scheme will better protect around 5,000 homes and businesses from flooding along the River Ribble and River Darwen in Preston and South Ribble.

But concerns have been raised after vandals ‘tagged’ the new walls with graffiti. Some residents say they’re worried the concrete defences will be seen as a ‘blank canvas’ and fear how the walls might look if vandals continue to target them.

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The graffiti appeared on the Penwortham side of the River Ribble over the weekend | Submitted

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“It’s going to end up looking like the Berlin Wall,” said one resident after the vandalism was shared on a local Facebook page, while another said the riverside would look like “an inner city no-go area” if more were to appear.

“I agree it's appalling,” said David Bennett. “I see comments that it should be encouraged as some sort of expressive art installation. Are they actually serious?

“Do we really want the new flood defences to start looking like some inner city no-go area?”

Others urged the Council to remove it swiftly, fearing it would encourage more graffiti to be scrawled along the riverside.

The Environment Agency, which is managing the construction of the Ribble’s £54.7million flood defences, said they are looking into “additional measures” to prevent further vandalism.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said:"Our contractor is working to remove the graffiti as soon as possible and looking into additional measures to stop people getting into the construction site.

"Anti-graffiti coating has been used on completed sections of the new flood wall but unfortunately had not yet been applied to these under construction."

South Ribble Borough Council were approached for comment.

Anger as graffiti appears on River Ribble's new £54.7m flood defence walls in Penwortham