London,
18
May
2009
|
23:00
Europe/London

Graffiti kits are the business

Cllr Alan Laing, Hackney Council’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, presents a graffiti clean up kit to Farhad Aziz, floor manager of the Fast Track internet café and computer shop in Kingsland High St.

The kit is one of six donated to the Council by Encams, formerly known as the Keep Britain Tidy group, to help encourage businesses to tackle graffiti.

Removing graffiti quickly makes life harder for vandals – the quicker it’s cleaned up, the less likely they are to come back.

Businesses owners are responsible for removing graffiti on their premises. If they don’t, the Council will issue a removal notice and if the eyesore is still not cleaned up the Council will remove it and send a bill to the owner. However we actively try to work with businesses where graffiti has been identified and we offer a service for removal at subsidised costs.

Mr Aziz said: “It can be expensive to have somebody else clean up graffiti, so having your own kit and doing it yourself can save you money.”

Cllr Laing said: “Graffiti is a real eyesore, which makes people feel less safe on our streets. The Council is committed to cleaning it up as quickly as possible and we spent £690,000 doing this last year. But we need businesses to help us by playing their part, too.

Similar clean-up kits are available from the Graffiti Hotline www. graffitihotline.co.uk