Lewisham cleaning up during Graffiti Awareness Week

10 October 2006

A new anti-graffiti coating is being applied to shops and businesses across the borough in a pioneering drive to combat taggers.

The new coating will be applied for the first time on Monday 9 October to officially launch Anti-Graffiti Awareness Week.

Steve Bullock, Mayor Lewisham, said: “This is a fantastic new initiative and a great way to reduce the amount of time and money spent on tackling graffiti.”

“The new coating will mean graffiti can be cleaned off with soap and water allowing shops to deal with the problem themselves and remove it straight away.”

“This will free up time for Lewisham’s Graffiti Team to tackle other problem areas around the borough, meaning more can be removed at a lower cost.”

Last year Lewisham removed 25,335 square metres of graffiti at a cost of over £275,000.

It usually takes three hours to remove graffiti from a shop shutter with specialised equipment.

By applying the anti-graffiti coating to shop shutters there will be a 75% reduction in time saved.

Lewisham is currently running other initiatives to target graffiti, these include:

Surveillance work with Police Community Support Officers and the Police in targeting prolific taggers in the borough.
Working with Network Rail to paint out graffiti on bridges and developing preventative measures e.g. raising fences around entry points.
Free training and equipment for businesses on how to remove graffiti.
Clean and Green schools programmes which encourages young people not to graffiti and to take pride in their environment.
Working on a joint campaign with local papers to encourage residents to report taggers.

More than 200 shops and businesses around the borough will benefit from the anti-graffiti paint.

Notes to the editor

The Front Line Academy “make a difference” fund gave £4,440 to the project with Lewisham Council adding an extra £5,000.

The other areas who will benefit from the anti-graffiti paint include:

Lewisham
Deptford
Sydenham
Forest Hill
Downham
Honor Oak
Bellingham

Future graffiti clean-up dates for these areas will be organised between November 2006 and April 2007.

Last years hotspot areas for graffiti removed include:

Bankfoot
Rushey Green
Lee Green
Brockley

Councillor Helen Klier, Cabinet Member for Resources, will be attending the launch.

Graffiti Awareness Week will take place from Monday 9 October to Friday 13 October and will be a week dedicated to targeting graffiti prevention.

It is a London wide initiative organised through Capital Standards which aims to make Britain’s streets cleaner.

Lewisham Council will be focusing on the following objectives during Graffiti Awareness Week:

Highlighting graffiti as a criminal offence, the high costs of removal and the impact it has on the area.
To promote the work of Capital Standards and the Street Enforcement Academy which will accumulate in a week of targeted action on graffiti throughout London.
Highlighting the issues/problems with graffiti, the solutions and the role Capital Standards play.

For more information please contact Camphung Liu on 020 8314 9001 / 07834145106 or email Camphung.liu@lewisham.gov.uk