Capital Clampdown On Graffiti Vandals
10 October 2006
Graffiti in London is being targeted as part of a campaign to clean up the capital.
Capital Standards Graffiti Awareness Week will see London councils, police, fire service and transport operators working together to clampdown on the environmental crime.
Councils will be highlighting the damage caused by graffiti, both in the cost to remove it and its negative impact on the perception of an area. Research shows that areas which suffer from high levels of environmental crime including litter, fly-tipping and graffiti, are more likely to have residents with a fear of crime.
Mark Pinnock, chair of the Capital Standards Graffiti Group, said: "Graffiti is a crime and costs councils thousands of pounds each year to clean up. It is not just young people that commit the crime but we must try to engage with all who are responsible."
During the week enforcement officers in Hounslow and Merton will be working with the Metropolitan Police to catch offenders. In Lewisham a new anti-graffiti paint will be applied to shops and businesses to stop would-be offenders. And in Wandsworth residents are being asked to shop graffiti taggers - graffiti vandals who use a signature symbol to identify their work - for a cash reward.
In Merton, the council cleans the equivalent of seven football pitches every year of graffiti. With the money spent on the clean-up of painted bridges, buildings and park equipment, they could buy 1,200 extra computers for schools in the area.
Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said: "Our polling consistently shows that living in a clean city is a priority for Londoners."
Capital Standards is a group set up to reduce litter, fly-tipping and graffiti in London. It consists of 28 London boroughs, ENCAMS, the Environment Agency, Metropolitan Police and Transport for London and many more.