Graffiti service ‘has seen better days’

Walls, bridges, abandoned tower blocks, even iconic murals – graffiti can be seen defacing all of these and more right across Birmingham.

But councillors heard this week that the service designed to tackle graffiti, which blights several communities in the Second City, has ‘seen better days’.

Cllr Harris Khaliq, the cabinet member for city operations, made the comment when he was asked about Brum’s iconic John F. Kennedy mosaic.

“It is a shame to see the Kennedy mosaic in Digbeth once again defaced by graffiti,” Cllr Pawson Anja (Conservative, Sutton Vesey) said at Tuesday’s full council meeting.

“What is the cabinet member doing to clean up and protect this important piece of street art, representing an important story in this city’s history?”

Cllr Khaliq responded: “The graffiti service has seen better days.

“And as we are rebuilding the whole street cleansing service, one of the main things that we are looking to rebuild is the graffiti service.

“One of the things we’ve seen is whenever there’s graffiti on council assets, we are actively removing it. I would work with the member of the ward to look at what we can do to help remove that graffiti.”

Cllr Anja responded by saying graffiti is a pressing issue that neighbourhoods across Birmingham have to contend with.

She went on to ask whether any proposals to focus more on tackling this “anti-social crime” and cleaning up affected areas would be brought forward in the budget.

Cllr Khaliq confirmed that would be the case.

The council’s leadership – now a minority coalition including the Lib Dems, Greens and various independents – was also asked by Labour councillor Sarina Younas what the plans are to address the “widespread problem” of graffiti.

“Birmingham City Council takes reports of graffiti seriously and deploys three dedicated teams across the city to undertake the removal of graffiti from council-owned assets and public spaces,” the council responded.

“Offensive, racist or otherwise harmful graffiti is prioritised for removal, with a target response time of removal within 24 hours of being reported.”

It continued in its written reply that responsibility for graffiti removal varies depending on ownership of the affected ‘asset’.

“Alongside removal activities, the council continues to encourage residents and businesses to report graffiti promptly so that incidents can be assessed, prioritised and addressed as quickly as possible,” the council said.

“The council is also exploring opportunities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of graffiti removal services in the future.

“This includes considering how the various teams and resources currently operating across different service areas could be better aligned, helping to provide a more coordinated city-wide response while making the best use of available resources.”

By Alexander Brock | Local Democracy Reporting Service