THE Mayor of Burnham and Highbridge has given a cautious welcome to the idea of sprucing up dreary shop shutters with artwork.

Cllr Ken Smout told the Weekly News he was keen to do something to imp-rove the look of Burnham town centre when shops are closed but was concerned wannabe artists could take matters a step further.

Enquiries have been made with a Bristol-based firm which specialises in decorating shutters and Beverley Milner Sim-onds, from the Burnham Town Team, was due to present a report on the matter to Burnham and Highbridge Town Council’s town improvements committee this week.

Cllr Smout, who sits on that committee, said: “The idea is to make the shutters more pleasing on the eye.

“The debate at the moment is about whether you have something very modern, like Banksy, or something more traditional.

“Some of the work by Banksy is fantastic but what I don’t want is for people to see something like Banksy on a shop front and then think ‘I can do that’ and just spray graffiti on other buildings.

“We obviously have to get the support of the shop owners as well, although anything that could improve the appearance of the shutters has to be a good thing.

“I asked years ago whether we could do anything about them because I had people telling me that Burnham looked like Beirut on a Sunday when all the shops were closed.”