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City council set to review how it tackles anti-social graffiti

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Gloucester City Council is pledging to tackle graffiti after growing concerns that the number of incidents is rising. 

At this month’s cabinet meeting, councillors are set to give the green light to an action plan that will review how it deals with the rising tide of graffiti, that has seen historic sites such as St Oswald’s Priory and Greyfriars vandalised.

The move follows a motion passed in January agreeing to set up a council taskforce to look at how graffiti is dealt with and to step up efforts to reduce it. 

It saw officers from across the council including those in street cleaning, environmental crime and anti-social behaviour get together to come up with the action plan.

Now this month’s cabinet meeting is set to back the plan that will see the council look to use anti-graffiti paints in public areas to deter vandals and identify where it can improve lighting to help deter culprits.

It will also review how people can report graffiti to make it easier for people to let the council know about incidents. 

The plan also includes measures to tackle graffiti on private land by proposing a waiver to allow the council to take action and a new paid for service for landowners to remove graffiti faster.

The council will also work with local groups to help them address the anti-social behaviour in their local area.

Currently Gloucester residents can contact the council about graffiti on public property such as public buildings, monuments, benches, and bins.

For graffiti on private land the council encourages residents to report it directly to the owner of the property.

Councillor Sebastian Field, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “Graffiti is a blight on our beautiful city and wastes tax-payers money which could be spent on delivering vital services. It affects community pride and even how safe people feel in an area.

“It can lead to a perception of neglect, potentially attracting further vandalism and crime and even put off people visiting our city. This action plan will help us to identify what we can do to reduce it including preventing it in the first place with improved lighting and CCTV.”

ENDS