Tackling illegal graffiti, tagging and street art

Find out about the enforcement action we take to tackle illegal graffiti, tagging and street art.

About graffiti

All types of graffiti, tagging and street art in public places are illegal without permission of the owner. We will take action to reduce the incidence of these illegal activities. 

Fines, also known as a Fixed Penalty Notice

We issue fines for illegal graffiti, tagging or street art.

Our Environmental Enforcement Team will speak to the owner of the property or asset to ascertain whether permission has been granted. If permission has not been given, we will issue fines to those responsible for illegal graffiti, tagging or street art in public places.

We work with the police to identify offenders.

We use CCTV to identify offenders.

Community Protection Warnings and Community Protection Notices

We issued Community Protection Warnings and Community Protection Notices to help tackle graffiti on commercial buildings and street furniture.  

This allows us to work with owners to advise, monitor and set timescales to remove graffiti around the city.

If we find graffiti on a commercial property, Environmental Enforcement Officers will issue Community Protection Warnings to the owners.

This is in line with our Environmental Enforcement Framework and the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

The process is:

  1. We send property owners a Community Protection Warning, with a timescale to remove graffiti.
  2. If the owner does not take action, we will serve a Community Protection Notice. This sets a specific date by which they are legally obliged to remove the graffiti.  
  3. If the owner then continues to ignore the Notice, we will impose a fine. In some cases, this may also lead to remedial action to remove graffiti at a cost to the business, and/or prosecution.

Community Protection Warnings and Notices include a timescale of 7, 14 or 28 days. This is to ensure the owner removes the graffiti promptly. 

The timescale is dependent on:

  • size of graffiti
  • height of placement
  • whether the removal requires specialist equipment

Homeowners, charities and community run facilities are exempt from the scheme.

What you can do about graffiti

Report graffiti on public land and offensive graffiti on private property.

Find out what to do about graffiti.

If you are in a resident or community group, find out how we can help you to paint over graffiti.

What we're doing about graffiti

Find out what else we're doing to tackle graffiti.