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War against graffiti costing £130,000 per year
THE war against graffiti is costing Peterborough tax-payers £133,000 every year, The Evening Telegraph can reveal today.
THE war against graffiti is costing Peterborough tax-payers 133,000 every year, The Evening Telegraph can reveal today.Freedom of Information figures show Peterborough City Council has spent 534,000 on removing graffiti since 2003, with the tab going up by an average of 2.5 per cent every year.
However, the total cost to the city is likely to be far greater because the figures do not include the tens of thousands of pounds paid out by householders and businesses who undertake the removal job at their own expense.
The extent of the problem was highlighted during a series of community action weeks in Orton Goldhay, Orton Malborne, Paston and Ravensthorpe and Westwood last year, when environmental officers dealt with 400 cases of graffiti.
And in September, vandals went on a graffiti spree in the Parnwell Centre, only three months after 1,400 was spent on a major facelift.
Peterborough City Council's cabinet member for city services Cllr David Sanders said a zero-tolerance attitude was needed to ensure graffiti artists were hauled in front of magistrates.
He said: "Graffiti is an ever increasing mindless piece of vandalism. The city council is keeping on top of the problem, but it takes resources to do that.
"My solution would be to report every single piece of graffiti to the police because it is a crime. It would have such an impact on crime figures that there would have to be a purge.
"I know graffiti might not be the biggest priority, but it has a major effect on the look of the city."
Chairman of Peterborough's Neighbourhood Watch Association Peggy Stokes said: "The city council provide me with brushes to paint over garage doors between Arundel Road and Fulbridge Road. But once I've painted over it, the graffiti artists are soon back.
"Every time they seem to get away with it. If they are caught, I would suggest that they should be made to clear up their own handiwork."
Bosses at the city's Queensgate shopping centre have attempted to prevent graffiti and other types of anti-social behaviour triggered when groups of youths congregate by installing Mosquito alarms. The alarms emit an irritating buzz, which is usually only heard by people under the age of 20.
A Cambridgeshire police spokeswoman said: "Reports of graffiti are taken extremely seriously and are treated as criminal damage. If anyone sees it happening, they should call the police so a response unit can be sent to the scene."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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