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An iconic piece of graffiti artwork by the artist Banksy has been granted listed status by a council. The Spy Booth mural depicts three 1950s-style agents, wearing brown trench coats and trilby hats, using devices to tap into conversations at a telephone box.

A new graffiti street art piece, suspected of being a Banksy, which appeared on the side of a house on Fairview Road adjacent to St. Anne's Terrace, Cheltenham.

A new graffiti street art piece, suspected of being a Banksy, which appeared on the side of a house on Fairview Road  Cheltenham. Image by Ben Birchall/PA Wire

It appeared overnight on a street in Cheltenham town centre in April last year – just a few miles from where the UK’s surveillance network, GCHQ, is based.

The painting on the side of a Grade II listed Georgian end terrace house has been a source of much controversy over the last year, with people trying to steal the mural, vandals painting over it and business and communities fighting over ownership.

Cheltenham Borough Council’s planning committee has approved an application for retrospective listed building consent for the Banksy and accompanying satellite dish on the wall of No. 159 Fairview Road.

(Press Association)