London ( CNN ) -- What do you do if a potentially valuable Banksy graffiti work appears on one of your buildings ? If you 're the local council in the English seaside resort of Clacton-on-Sea , the answer is : remove it fast . The image , painted in Banksy 's distinctive style on a nondescript seafront building , showed a group of pigeons holding signs saying `` Migrants not welcome , '' `` Go back to Africa '' and `` Keep off our worms '' directed at a more exotically plumed bird . To most observers , it would appear to be a sharp piece of social commentary highlighting anti-immigration rhetoric , but it sparked a complaint Tuesday to the local council that it was itself offensive and racist . The Tendring District Council 's graffiti team moved in , and as of Wednesday morning , the Banksy was no more , the council 's communications manager , Nigel Brown , told CNN . Where can you find a Banksy ? The officers did not realize the mural they were removing was by the famously anonymous graffiti artist Banksy , he said . But at the same time , if they considered that the image could be seen by some people as offensive or racist , they had a responsibility to remove it , he said . `` It 's damned if you do , damned if you do n't , '' Brown said . `` But there is a 'whoops it 's a Banksy ' moment . '' From graffiti to galleries . Banksy 's social comment comes at a sensitive time in local politics . A special election is taking place on October 9 , triggered by the defection of the Essex district 's member of Parliament from the Conservative Party to UKIP . Immigration is a key issue for the two parties , with UKIP committed to limiting the number of migrants entering Britain . Is Bambi the female Banksy ? 'Appropriate ' Banksy work . It was only after the council was contacted by the media over a photo of the work on Banksy 's website that the council realized what it had -- briefly -- had , Brown said . All that remains is a discolored smudge on the wall . `` We would obviously welcome an appropriate Banksy original on any of our seafronts and would be delighted if he returned in the future , '' he said . An `` appropriate '' work would have to be something that would fit into a `` family seaside resort , '' he said . The world of African street art . The words on the mural could have caused distress , Brown added , if the reader did not understand the irony . `` It 's not the sort of thing we would want to be on one of our own buildings in Clacton , '' he said . Other Banksy artworks have become tourist attractions in their own right or have been snapped up by collectors willing to spend big bucks . A work spray-painted on a door at a youth center in the English city of Bristol , showing a couple embracing while checking their cell phones , was sold at auction in August for 403,000 pounds ( more than $ 650,000 ) , according to UK media reports , with the proceeds going to the youth club . It seems Clacton-on-Sea wo n't get to reap similar benefits .
Council surveillance team in Leigh - on - Sea removes a Banksy image from a council building . The image showed pigeons directing anti - immigration signs toward an exotic - looking bird . An election is taking place after a local councillor defected to UKIP , which wants to stop migration . Council spokesman says Banksy is welcome to return any time to do an ` ` appropriate '' work .