Small businesses contacted about graffiti on their property have not responded to council requests to clean it off.
Brighton and Hove City Council contacted seven businesses in August after councillors agreed to stop issuing fines to small and independent traders blighted by tagging.
Conservative councillor Anne Meadows raised the issue at the council’s City Environment, South Downs and the Sea Committee meeting on Tuesday (19 September).
At the meeting at Hove Town Hall, Councillor Meadows asked how long the council would continue to suspend the fines regime.
A report to the committee said that of the seven businesses asked to remove graffiti, “some” had refused to speak with council environmental enforcement officers and take the letter.
Councillor Meadows said: “What is the plan if that pattern continues and businesses refuse to engage with the council (and) refuse to remove the graffiti?
“Is the council going to return to community protection warnings and community protection notices and fine small local businesses for failing to remove graffiti?
“These small businesses are surely the victims of crime and should not and may not, due to lots of factors, be able to afford to keep removing graffiti within a certain timeframe, especially if it is continual tagging.”
Green councillor Kerry Pickett was also concerned about how long the council would continue to pause the fines, given that those contacted so far had ignored communication or refused to remove graffiti.
Labour councillor Tim Rowkins, who chairs the committee, said that businesses were “double victims” when they experienced vandalism and were then threatened with a fine.
And this was the reason why the council had stopped fining small independent traders.
He said that the council would not want a knee-jerk reaction in the early stages of not fining businesses but would review the situation.
Councillor Rowkins said: “We believe they will continue to be, in most cases, responsible and remove the graffiti from their own premises.
“Our intention is to have a more helpful and supportive role until we get good information that we should do otherwise.”
A senior council official, Lynsay Cook, the head of improvement and modernisation, said that the issue of whether or not to fine small businesses was something that could be included in a public consultation on the graffiti reduction strategy.
The committee agreed to start a public consultation to refresh the graffiti strategy and action plan.
A report to the committee said that the consultation would not herald a change to the £275,000 budget for tackling graffiti which was “fully spent” every year.
AT MY RECENT RESIDENTS MEETING , THE CHAIRMAN STATED THAT THE PCSO HE LIAISES WITH SAID THE USELESS OLD BILL KNOW WHO THE TAGGERS RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF THE TAGGING IN THE CITY ARE SO WHY AREN’,T THEY DOING ANYTHING ABOUT THEM ?
Why don’t you ask Sussex Police then?
They need to reinstate the fines. If you run a business you have a responsibility to look after the frontage of your building. It doesn’t cost much nor is it difficult to buy a tin of paint or some graffiti removal fluid and deal with it. The state of shops like Oxfams which do nothing about their graffiti is just a blight on the community. Just look at the one for instance in St James Street. Complete disrespect for the communities in which they work in.
Completely ignoring the council was a really poor move on these businesses end. Could have feasibility worked on preventative measures and supported that as well.
These preventative measures, what would they be then?
Over the last 3 years the green council did nothing for small business except trying to milk them like cash cows. First with parking permits, then bin fines, then graffiti fines. If you run a business it does not make you a millionaire with an endless cheque book. At the end of the day the police need to start enforcement of the law, that’s the only way this problem will be solved. As a shop owner you shouldn’t be expected to paint the side of your shop on a weekly basis because some sudo studies have shown it might reduce criminals from targeting your business.
Doesn’t help the environment enforcement lot are so abruptly rude.
That’s a fair comment, Environment, for reason, have always acted like plastic policemen.
bussiness paint out the tag immediately after it has appeared . Keep paint the same colour as the wall ready to use
“Complete disrespect for the communities” thats what taggerd have. If theres no drive to arrest and convict them then the problem wont go away. Shops will have to pay and repaint time and time again. Thats the issue.
Why should businesses pick up the tab for something the weak pathetic council is not minded to address?
Welcome to sh1th0le Brighton.
When the greens have hollowed out the city, we’ll be left to pick up the pieces.
They’ll get the pension.
We’ve got what we voted for.
Why anger towards Oxfam?
They are business victims like the rest.
Opportunity for Community Payback?
Why should they pay if there are no efforts made by council and police to address the problem? They are the victims of crime. We should fine the taggers and make them clean the properties as community service.
So…like Community Payback?
You have to catch and identify them first. the police are not interested
And there are CCTV cameras all over the city, so surely, if they were really intending to put as stop to this horrendous behaviour, the council would get around to making an attempt to identify the perpetrators, by using them. Meanwhile judges should stop being so feeble minded in punishing them. It must be very annoying for the police, having arrested a criminal, to find that the latter has received virtually just a ticking off from the judge. And how typical of a councillor of the Green Party, which did absolutely nothing about this when they were in control, to still go on blaming the businesses, who themselves were the victims of this crime. This was the party that helped to turn Brighton & Hove into the most expensive dump on the South Coast.
So…punishment like Community Payback?
I’ve got some candidates!
Phelim, Hannah, Jamie Lloyd
Victims of crime (criminal damage) should be helped by BHCC NOT punished. BHCC don’t even clean the graffiti off BHCC property. Get Community Payback people to provide the labour, BHCC provide the equipment and clean up the graffiti in the entire city!
Sadly,tag graffiti is committed by sad talentless losers, sexually inadequate, politically dead inside with no respect for other peoples property, who all need therapy and treatment!!
It seems that the council don’t live in the real world. Painting over tagging only encourages more…
Some recent examples:
The hoardings outside St Peter’s medical centre – repainted a few weeks ago and covered with tags within days.
The wall outside the centenary industrial estate Lewes Road – some poor sod spent all day in the blazing sun cleaning off the tags – now covered in them again.
The hoardings around the defunct cafe on the level – covered in tags within days of being erected.
I could go on with further examples but the point is that unless these brainless morons are stopped then forcing struggling businesses to be constantly painting and repainting knowing that there will be no end to it seems both pointless and cruel
tell the police to catch and fine them
I think this is absolutely wrong to exspect the small business and others to remove the tags. Regardless of the property owner
Why should they pay for this
After all it’s Someone’s crime not there’s
This council is going to be useless like that of the greens
Bins full dog poop weeds tags should be covered by the council if they are that bothered about it and leave the business who cab barely afford to stay open
It’s all Bella being greedy and not having a care about the actual owners of the business
All labour see is them
It’s a crime on the streets streets owner is the council
So what do your business rates go towards then? Maybe get some police out and they can do their job? I know it’s a lot to ask but they are paid extremely well. Are there any councils in the UK that are in touch with their community and reality? Maybe all get together and take a case to the courts as the council are failing on their part surely. Why would a victim of crime have to pay and then if they don’t they get fined. What a mad mad world we live in. Also there is rubbish everywhere in Brighton so please could the bin men, who have had a pay rise do their job too and stop punishing the tax payers and rate payers further. Basically everyone just needs to do their job and things work well. People don’t do their job properly and here we are.
not enough staff to clear the rubbish, nobody wants to do this work anymore, those that did have left