War on graffiti hits public purse (From York Press)

War on graffiti hits public purse

2:00pm Saturday 6th September 2008 in News By Gavin Aitchison, gavin.aitchison@thepress.co.uk

Terry Collins, director of neighbourhood services for City of York Council, examines graffiti in the tunnel near the Marygate car park

UNSIGHTLY graffiti in York is regularly being removed within 24 hours according to city leaders – but the success is coming at a cost.

Terry Collins, director of neighbourhood services at City of York Council, said the war on vandals was being won, with arrests being made and tags being removed.

But keeping on top of the problem is set to cost the council £32,000 more than it budgeted for this year, and a report to councillors says more money will need to be allocated in future, if the recent success is to be maintained.

Mr Collins urged York residents to play their part in the battle to rid the city of graffiti.

He said: “We are appealing to the public to work with us on this.

“We have been removing graffiti as fast as we can, and working to gather intelligence. But we need the community to let us know where these graffiti tags are.

“If people are seen with spray paints or whatever, let us know because we all know the impact it has on our city.”

As reported in The Press last Wednesday, a new website has been launched as part of the anti-graffiti effort. Taking Action Against Graffiti in York (TAAGY) holds an online database of graffiti tags, with the aim of increasing the number of successful prosecutions as well as the quick removal of the mess.

The project team consists of Safer York Partnership, North Yorkshire Police and the council. The website, which was launched on Tuesday, warns that the “writing is on the wall for York’s graffiti gangs”.

At a council meeting last week, Mr Collins said a prosecution was imminent against one highly prolific vandal, who had allegedly committed about 60 graffiti offences in York.

He said many of the perpetrators were from outside York, and had also been blighting other towns and cities. A report to last week’s meeting said the budget for graffiti removal this year was £46,000, but it was on course for a total spend of £78,000. However, the report said the overspend may be reduced, once the council’s new Environmental Maintenance Team started up, as one of its jobs would be helping remove the vandals’ work.