The wraps are due to come off The Plyons, an historic gateway welcoming motorists to Brighton and Hove, after more than two years as a giant advertising billboard.

A contractual wrangle put a stop to spring-cleaning on one of the two towers that greet drivers as they come into the city on the A23.

Instead of a heartfelt poem - welcoming friends hand and heart and assuring foes their animosity would be conquered by a blast of civic love - it has been covered with plastic and a bright yellow banner reading: "Street Scaffolding Services."

The work ground to a halt when WS Atkins, contractors who maintain trunk roads on behalf of the Highways Agency, insisted the two outside lanes of the road would have to be closed in each direction for it to continue.

The cost was estimated at £1,300 a day for the three-week scrub.

After frantic rounds of negotiation, Brighton and Hove City Council believes it has struck a cheaper deal to get the work done without the disruption.

Following queries from angry motorists who wondered why the entrance to their city was marked with an advert for a scaffolding firm, Patcham councillor Brian Pidgeon raised the issue.

Environment councillor Gill Mitchell said: "Work involving cleaning and minor repairs was brought to an abrupt halt at the insistence of WS Atkins."

The council had successfully contested the scale of the lane closures and were now going to use their own, cheaper, contractors.

She said: "It is hoped consent will come in the next two to three weeks.

"The contractor will need a further two weeks to prepare and another week to complete the work. It is its intention to flood the site with staff to ensure a rapid completion."

The monumental structure is one of a pair of stone gate pillars which used to straddle the old road into Brighton, marking the northern boundary of the town.

They were erected in 1928 at a cost of £3,500 to commemorate the extension of "Greater Brighton" and now flank the southbound A23, which was built around them.

Like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the pillars were designed to be the town's first statement to all who entered it.

After the meeting Coun Pidgeon said: "Councillors had written letters about the pillars, and received replies but nothing had been made public about it.

"I thought it was time the people of the city had answers.

"The way people saw it, all the pillars have been doing is providing free advertising for the scaffolding firm.

"Sadly, Councillor Mitchell didn't answer my question as to whether she thought the scaffolding was an appropriate entrance to the city."

No one from Street Scaffolding Services was available to comment.

Greeting in full:

Hail guest, we ask not what thou art.

If friend we greet thee hand and heart.

If stranger no longer be.

If foe our love shall conquer thee.