GRAFFITI vandals are set to have their works documented on a database to help police catch them.

The new website dedicated to reducing graffiti in York could be introduced, city councillors will be told next week.

The site would provide an accurate database of all graffiti tags found in the city.

Council bosses said the format of the database would need to be based on GPS mapping, so that officers could build a picture of information that would eventually link tags to those who were responsible for creating them.

The database would provide a single point of contact for the police, City of York Council and all other stakeholders working to tackle the problem.

A city council report, which will be considered at a meeting of the authority's executive member for neighbourhood services and advisory panel on Thursday, says: "The site will provide an accurate database of all tags found in the city which will be provided by street environment officers, neighbourhood policing teams and other partners such as community watch, estate workers, councillors, parish councillors and resident associations."

The front page of the site would provide information for councillors and residents on, among other things, reporting graffiti, removal advice and the lending of removal kits. The report recommends the panel advises the executive member to agree to allocate £10,000 of the York Pride budget for 2008/09 to supporting the development of the database.

Ann Reid, the council's executive member for neighbourhood services, said: "The Liberal Democrat administration is very keen to ensure that all agencies work together to catch the perpetrators of this antisocial activity.

"It is vital when prosecuting that we have records of all the incidents from any one person, and this allows the penalty to match the damage that they have done to the city."

But Labour criticised the plans, which will reduce the amount of money available for ward committees.

Coun Ken King, shadow executive member for neighbourhood services, said: "Frankly, I think this is disgusting. It reflects the fact that York Pride is very much about the city centre and not about the cleanliness and maintenance of local neighbourhoods.

"Sadly, it also reflects once again that the council's priorities are not with residents and where they live. It suggests the Business Pride initiative to look after the city centre is on its last legs and struggling to provide the funding it was set up to deliver."

Last month, York city centre was targeted with a spate of graffiti attacks, with shops around Walmgate and Fossgate sprayed with tags.

James Player is deputy chief officer of Age Concern York in Walmgate - one of the stores vandalised. He said: "It seems like it's intelligent use of modern technology, and harnessing that is always a good idea in terms of tracking problems and making a clearer picture for people and helping to tackle such things as graffiti - that or any other kind of crime. I'm sure it's a good idea if it helps them to prioritise the areas where there are particular problems, as long as they have carefully considered all their priorities in terms of how they spend their money. I've no doubt they've done that. It seems like an intelligent use of money."