Aylesbury Liberal Democrats

“Anyone who visits Aylesbury cannot but notice we have a serious problem with graffiti at the moment” said Keith Turner Councillor for Aylesbury Central. “The start of this current epidemic was reported by me and others as early as March this year but AVDC have been slow to act and when they acted is more of a reaction that a proactive attempt to eradicate this problem. The town isn’t getting a great press at the moment for one reason or another and it is vital we resolve issues such as these particularly when AVDC are putting a lot of weight behind a marketing exercise to promote Aylesbury Vale as a great place to live and work.

There is no question that AVDC have, albeit slowly, put in place some initiatives for removing the graffiti but they really need to make a step change in there approach. The situation is getting worse not better. I can only liken getting AVDC moving to doing similar to a monolithic pachyderm.

They should learn from other authorities who have made a much more substantial commitment to removing this particular blight from their town centre and indeed other areas of their towns or cities.

After a robust exchange of views with the responsible cabinet member (Sir Billy Stannier) I have finally obtained a commitment from him that AVDC are prepared to clean of graffiti from all buildings and structures which is what many Local Authorities do already. Up until now his statements on this subject have been ambiguous. He says they need permission from the owners to clean the graffiti off the walls of their buildings and I would therefore encourage anyone who has been the victim of graffiti to e-mail AVDC and give them blanket permission to remove graffiti as and when it occurs. More enlightened councils, such as East Cambridge have available an indemnity form on line which you just fill in and e-mail back to the council when your premises has been attacked.

As far as doing more some Local Authorities have been much more dynamic in their approach to resolving this problem. Some have set up graffiti teams or squads (Salford) that not only clear away graffiti but put in place measures to catch and prosecute the perpetrators. Other Local Authorities have put in place a voluntary scheme for sellers of aerosol sprays and graffiti removal as a community service for young and mature offenders. Doncaster has a hot line to report to report graffiti and many councils provide ways of reporting graffiti through a form based e-mail. Compare this to the telephone only method that AVDC has adopted.

Without a joined up approach to ridding the town of graffiti we are not going to get anywhere. Yes there is a cost associated with getting rid of graffiti and catching the perpetrators. But if it isn’t resolved now the costs in the future will be much higher in terms of the local economy and the viability of the town centre as a whole.

Graffiti and vandalism if left unchecked give people the perception that the area is unmanaged and therefore unsafe. The Wilson and Kelling report in 1982 put forward the proposal that if an area looks run down more crime and disorder will follow and hence the perception becomes the reality. This was the “every broken window matters” initiative which went on to be a highly successful crack down in New York which eradicated significant levels of crime and anti-social behaviour.

Aylesbury Liberal Democrats

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Local Councillor calls for crackdown on graffiti
1st Feb 2006

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