Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Graffiti wall plan ditched
A plan to install a public graffiti wall has been scrapped - amid fears it would result in even more unsightly scrawls across Canterbury.
The city council carried out in-depth studies into the idea, hoping to curb the city-wide scourge of ugly tags. Authority officers researched schemes in Bristol and Philadelphia to gauge the potential success of having a designated wall for ‘taggers’.
But after gaining advice from police, the council realises the plan would fail.
Since January 2019, there have been 1,615 reports of illegal scribblings lodged with the council - leading to five offenders being caught across the district. The prospect of a graffiti wall was hoped to play a role in reducing the problem. Last year, Labour councillor Mel Dawkins argued graffiti vandals had a “human right” to express themselves.
She gave examples of authorities including London’s South Bank, where spaces for people to graffiti had been created. But Inspector Guy Thompson told the city council: “I am not aware of any evidence base that supports a graffiti wall to allow those involved to deface a location with implied permission. “There are a number of serial taggers that aim to get their work seen by many people. Those taggers would be more attracted to the city and, therefore, there would be a potential increase the damage to non-designated locations. “Recently we have prosecuted offenders and they are not local to Canterbury.” Commissioning a graffiti artist to design a mural could be the option the council considers instead.
A report compiled for councillors on the community committee by Suzi Wakeham reads: “Due to concerns about tagging spreading to the surrounding area, the potential for increased littering, attracting out-of-area taggers and giving them an excuse for carrying spray cans, unsupervised permission walls in public places are not supported by the council.”