Graffiti in Reading: time for a new campaign

In October 2008, Steve Waite (pictured here, copyright the Evening Post), former Labour Lead Councillor for the Environment on the Council, said of the Council's Big Clean Up" campaign:

"The project so far has been an unprecedented success and a tribute to the staff involved. However, this is just the first stage of the clean up and we are not complacent and expect our work to continue for some time to come."

I'm sorry to have to report that earlier today a Council officer confirmed to me what Superintendent Steve Kirk hinted at last week, that this highly successful campaign is no more.

As if you hadn't noticed, looking around the Borough at the massive increase in graffiti in recent months.

This campaign was launched following a dramatic increase in graffiti in 2007- when a massive 22% of Reading's streets and open spaces were defaced by graffiti and an active campaign by local Lib Dems.

It focussed on areas worst hit by graffiti - beginning in Redlands.

It had previously been Labour's policy to charge residents £35 pounds per hour for graffiti removal from private properties. The Lib Dems successfully lobbied the administration to get this changed.

The four key elements of the campaign were as follows:

1. The introduction of a third new graffiti clean-up van, with the latest specialist equipment to tackle graffiti;
2. The deployment of a further two specialist graffiti teams just for a year, clamping down on long standing graffiti which has spoiled the look of neighborhoods for a long time. This is a particular problem because it becomes part of the landscape and people don't bother to report it;
3. After the Big Graffiti Clean-up in a particular area of the town, the introduction of free graffiti removal of ‘tagging’ of up to one square metre in size from private properties, and the removal from small businesses or housing association properties for a small cost;
4. Partnership work with the police developed further to bring about more enforcement and prosecutions.

And it is clear that this approach was very effective and made a big difference to the level of graffiti on our streets.  Over an 8 month period RBC's Streetcare team responded to 820 reports from residents and 100 reports from councillors (as one officer remarked I was responsible for a large proportion of these!)

But, the campaign was only planned by Labour to last for one year: from June 2007 to July 2008.

This disappointing news makes me beg the question: was the Big Graffiti Clean Up Campaign just another pre-election bribe by Labour?

Now that the campaign has come to an end, I am told that the Council now only has three rather than five specialist vehicles at it's disposal, operating across the Borough removing graffiti tags.

In addition, the loss of the £20,000 contribution which had been made to the 'Big Clean Up' by the Safer Reading Campaign  (the local Crime Reduction Partnership) will also have an impact on what can be achieved.

Leaving aside the impact on this reduction in resources, you do wonder whether efforts to tackle graffiti are now as focussed as they were when there was an active, high proflile campaign across the Borough. This is a problem when the need for action on graffiti is no less acute.

So what now? Well, in terms of the bad graffiti situation we are facing in Reading at the moment I received this response from RBC yesterday:

"It has been noticeable that the amount of graffiti has been increasing recently across Reading and whilst I can appreciate your concerns in Abbey, Redlands and Katesgrove the problem is widespread and we have to allocate our resources accordingly, having said this we are aware of the particular problems in these wards and are reacting as best we can."

Our operatives are still working with TVP and all new tags are photographed and recorded on the database."

While it is clear that officers are working hard to deal with the graffiti upsurge within existing resources, the fact that this project has been wound up clearly shows that tackling graffiti is no longer a priority for Reading Borough Council's Labour administration.

It's good to hear that partnership working between the Council and Police continues to tackle taggers (it is one which had a number of high profile successess).

However, I do wonder whether that without resources for the 'Big Clean Up' our overstretched local Police teams will be able to continue to  crack down effectively on those responsible for this criminal damage (which is what unwanted graffiti is), whilst also dealing with other more serious crimes such as burglary.

Judging by the angry response to an article in today's Post on the explosion in graffiti in central and south Reading, I think Labour politicians may well regret the decision to cut short this popular and successful campaign.

What we would not want to see is a return to Labour's  which was to charge local householders for graffiti clean ups. This is something the Lib Dems actively campaigned to change a couple of years ago.

As I said of the "Big Clean Up" campaign last March:

"..we just need to make sure that the Council continues to invest resources into tackling graffiti and also spends wisely on diversionary tactics to prevent repeat attacks. We believe strongly that a one off clean up is needed alongside ongoing work to prevent graffiti building up in public places"

Whilst  it is apparent that some political parties in Reading appear to have lost interest in tackling graffiti, be reassured that the Lib Dems, however, will continue to campaign for a cleaner, greener Reading.

It goes without saying that In the current economic climate finding additional resources to devote to tackling the problem of graffiti over the next few years will be difficult.

We will be investigating ways in which the battle against those who deface our streets and public spaces can be stepped up in the future.