Popular Whanganui sites vandalised over long weekend

The Duncan Pavilion was among the many sites to be covered in graffiti over the weekend. Photo / PJ Jackman

It's not yet known how much a spate of vandalism over the long weekend will cost the community.

A number of popular Whanganui spots and attractions were tagged with graffiti over Anzac weekend, including the Duncan Pavilion and the Kowhai Park skate bowl.

The graffiti on the Duncan Pavilion at Castlecliff Beach was believed to have been done sometime on Saturday night.

The Kowhai Park skate bowl had extensive graffiti and Whanganui District Council has arranged for a contractor to remove the damage.

A council spokesperson said it was made aware of the graffiti at the pavilion, and the council's graffiti team had been out to fix it.

The skate bowl has been regularly attacked over the years, Including in November where an oil spill cost close to $6000 to repair.

The spokesperson said it was a labour-intensive job and couldn't just be painted over as this made the skate bowl slippery and unusable.

The cost of removing the graffiti is not known as yet.

It was revealed to the Chronicle through an Official Information Act request last year that 55 incidents of vandalism cost Whanganui ratepayers more than $37,000 in 2020, with everything from toilets and playground matting to "doggy doo" bins being taken-to by vandals across the district.