Content

(Report of Director of
Central Services and Deputy Chief Executive)
 
The report provided
details of the Borough Council’s work in tackling graffiti,
including the current reporting mechanisms, the cleaning and
removal of graffiti and work with the Community Payback scheme.
 
Members welcomed
the report and noted that the Borough Council’s current
approach to tackling graffiti aimed to remove all offensive, racist
and abusive graffiti from council-owned land and public property
within 48 hours of it being reported, with priority being given to
areas on or close to main roads, main town areas and
schools.  However, the Borough Council
would not remove graffiti from privately owned property, railway
structures or telephone boxes and instead, residents would be
encouraged to report this graffiti to the police or directly to the
landowners.  A flowchart showing the
process for reporting graffiti was attached at Annex 1.  A table providing examples of a number of other
Kent local authorities’ approaches to tackling graffiti was
provided at Annex 3.
 
The use of graffiti
walls to address graffiti issues was discussed and a clarification
was made between ‘graffiti walls’ and
‘graffiti/street art’. 
Member supported a public consultation be undertaken to gather
residents’ views on ‘graffiti walls’, subject to
a clear definition of ‘graffiti walls’ being provided
in the survey.
 
Following
consideration by the Communities and Environment Scrutiny Select
Committee, the Cabinet Member for Transformation and Infrastructure
resolved that:
 
(1)        the graffiti
reporting page on the website be further publicised to
residents;
 

(2)       
a Graffiti policy setting out how the Borough Council intended to
tackle graffiti, be developed;

(3)       
a single database to record reports of graffiti across Council
Services and record when the graffiti had been removed, be
developed; and

(4)       
a survey to gather information of views on graffiti and
‘graffiti walls’ from residents, including Parish
Councils, be undertaken within the borough.