A blitz to remove graffiti from some of the busiest parts of the city centre is underway as part of a new approach to tackling illegal tagging in Brighton & Hove.
Using £100,000 of extra funding agreed by cabinet in June, and with the support of contractors, all buildings and street furniture from Brighton Station to the Seafront, North Street and Western Road (from Dyke Road to Montpellier Road) will be cleaned over the next few weeks. We’ll then be moving on to other city centre locations.
It comes as a new 3-year Graffiti Tagging Action Plan is laid out, designed to target the quick removal, enforcement and prevention of illegal tagging across the city.
Having listened carefully to feedback from residents, businesses and visitors through our Re-Imagine Brighton events and public consultation, the plan sets out ways to speed up the removal of graffiti, new approaches to catch and prosecute offenders and how we can engage and work with artists to encourage and channel art, creativity and expression.
Councillor Tim Rowkins, Cabinet Member for Net Zero & Environmental Services said: “Tackling graffiti tagging is one of our biggest priorities and this new action plan will play a huge part in cleaning up Brighton & Hove.
“Illegal tagging is a problem we need to get on top of urgently, which is why we’re investing £100,000 in the immediate term to target tags on all buildings and street furniture in the city centre, regardless of who owns them.
“It’s an area where so many people live, work and travel through – we want to give them a city they can be proud of and I’m really looking forward to seeing the work being done first hand in the coming weeks.
“One of the keys to this new action plan is removing graffiti tagging quickly. New resources mean we’ll have more people on hand to do that, but we’ll also be holding big businesses and large organisations to account – requiring them to clean up tags within 28 days, or we’ll do it and recharge them.
“We’ll take a firm approach to those offenders who consistently tag, but we’ll also work with streets artists to encourage the creativity and vibrancy they bring to our city.”
One of the keys to the new action plan will be taking a ‘whole area approach’ to the removal of illegal graffiti. This means tags will be removed from all property, regardless of the owner.
Where appropriate, the council would recover the costs of removing tags from large organisations, big businesses and statutory undertakers such telecoms companies, Royal Mail or Network Rail.
We hope to do this through agreements but have enforcement powers should we need them.
We’ll also be developing a plan for empty properties which we know can attract more tagging but are less likely to be cleaned.
Since April of this year, we’ve more than doubled the number of staff working on graffiti removal from 4 to 10, with additional vehicles and jet washing equipment also on order.
In the first few weeks of operation, this team removed tags from 184 items of street furniture and 37 walls.
We’ve also begun to look at how offenders, on Community Service programmes, can work with our staff and volunteers to speed up removal.
Feedback in our public consultation showed that enforcement is very important to city residents and businesses, and we’ll continue to take a firm approach to offenders. Last year we increased the fine for offenders from £150 to £500, and we will continue to apply the maximum amount for those identified.
The council’s Environmental Enforcement Team has already increased the number Fixed Penalty Notices its issued, thanks to evening and weekend patrols, working with Sussex Police and the introduction of CCTV cameras.
We’ll also be publicising more images of adults involved in graffiti tagging to help us identify them.
Brighton & Hove is a city bursting with creativity that we want to encourage and support.
The council’s new Culture and Creative Industries Team have begun engaging with local street artists to help channel the creativity of people who are currently involved in unauthorised tagging.
The team is currently developing a Street Art Plan which will demonstrate the huge role and value street art plays in the city, but also help prevent graffiti.