Youngsters in Rose Hill plan to beat vandals at their own game by spraypainting a shelter on the estate.

After yobs covered a youth shelter on the recreation ground with graffiti, Rose Hill Youth Club decided to clean it off and respray the shelter themselves.

Maggie O'Sullivan, of the youth club, said: "Some idiot graffitied the whole place.

"We came up with the idea of actually cleaning it well and then doing something that was a bit more creative and would build the sense of personal ownership of it."

At a meeting on Tuesday, five young people agreed to put together sketches and designs for revamping the shelter.

Mrs O'Sullivan said youth club members were dismayed at the vandalism and wanted to do what they could to make sure it didn't happen again.

She added that a graphic designer would work with the young people to create the shelter's new look.

City councillor Ed Turner, who represents Rose Hill and Iffley, said: "The youth shelter is intended to be a space for young people, and I suppose this is quite a good way of them making it their own.

"Seeing it defaced was a real shame, and well done to youth worker Adam French and the team for coming up with this idea."

The scheme follows in the footsteps of one in Bicester, where youngsters were invited to decorate the town youth shelter with luminous spray paint, under the direction of a London graffiti artist.

The shelter had just been replaced following high-profile trouble with gangs.

Graffiti has been a major problem in Rose Hill, although it is the first time the youth shelter, put up two years ago at a cost of £5,000, has been targeted.

Last year Mr Turner organised a clean-up of hotspots, including The Pavilion, Rose Hill Community Centre, shops at The Oval and the recreation ground.

Cleansing staff from Oxford City Council joined the one-hour walkabout and later took action to clean up the graffiti.