Chichester society lament lack of action against removal of graffiti

In a statement, Richard Childs of the Chichester Society said: “In 2014 the Chichester Society undertook the refurbishment of the Via Ravenna underpass mural.

"Periodically the mural has been sprayed with graffiti which we have reported to the District Council and has been promptly removed.

“Early this year graffiti appeared on the mural.

"On 7 February we emailed Chichester District Council regarding the graffiti.

"As people won’t know, the public are directed to contact the District Council even though some graffiti removal is the County Council’s responsibility.

“After seven weeks the graffiti hadn’t been removed so we again emailed the District Council on 18 March.

"A further seven weeks elapsed with no removal of the graffiti so yet again we emailed the District Council on 6 May.

"This time the District Council suggested that as they were having no luck with WSCC we should contact them directly.

“Our concerns about graffiti around the city led the Chichester Society to undertake a photographic survey of the problem.

"We reported our findings to Councillor Tony Dignum, the relevant Cabinet Member at the District Council.

"He in turn passed our report onto an officer who told us that they too were concerned about the increase in graffiti but that a report would be going to the Cabinet in early June.

"The Cabinet however agreed a package to fund increased graffiti removal.

“We also contacted Deborah Urquhart, the relevant Cabinet Member at WSCC regarding the problem.

"Deborah told us that the County Council now only removes graffiti if it is racist or offensive, not if it is merely unsightly.

"She also suggested that other parish councils across the county had used money received from housing developers to remove graffiti in their area.

"As so often in Chichester we are presented with a possibility of three or no councils doing something about a blatantly apparent problem.

"Do these various councillors speak to each other to resolve our problems or are they so confined to their own little empires that they are happy to ignore problems that are glaring them in the face?

“Chichester deserves better from its overblown number of councillors.”

In response, a West Sussex County Council spokesperson said: “Local district, borough and some town councils oversee the removal of graffiti from, for example, public buildings, monuments, benches and bins.

"Many also work in partnership with, and on behalf of, the County Council to remove offensive graffiti from highway structures such as signs and subway walls.

"Due to limited budgets, it is not possible to operate a ‘clear all’ approach and so offensive graffiti is targeted as a priority.”