Victims of graffiti could face prosecution

BRIGHTON homeowners and shopkeepers who fall victim to graffiti could be prosecuted under a “draconian” council plan.

The Labour-run Brighton and Hove City Council is considering giving residents two weeks to clean graffiti off their property... before sending in its officers. The residents would then have to pay council costs or face charges.

The council is planning to use powers to issue Community Protection Orders (CPO) under the Anti-social Crime and Policing Act. It is a criminal offence not to comply with CPOs, which can result in an on-the-spot fine of £100, or prosecution with a fine of up to £2,500 for individuals or up to £20,000 for businesses.

The council is struggling to stem a surge in graffiti affecting about 10 per cent of the city’s streets.

But Tony Janio, the Conservative opposition leader, said that the new plan it was “too heavy-handed”.

“We are concerned that the strategy will make an 85-year-old lady clean a black mark off her wall. We don’t want it to be too draconian; this has got to be done in a proportionate way,” he said.

“Everyone needs to know that we are serious about [tackling graffiti], but you can’t just send hordes of council officers around ordering people to do things in a short time period. That’s not the way we do things in this country.”

The proposals were made in the council’s graffiti reduction strategy, which will be discussed later this week. Other proposals include a low-cost council service people can voluntarily use to remove graffiti and beefing up efforts to catch prolific offenders.