By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter
Graffiti in Croydon is a ‘blight’ and ‘spreading uncontrollably’ since the council axed the clean-up team which removed it, a councillor has claimed.
The dedicated graffiti removal team was scrapped to save cash in the wake of the council’s bankruptcy in 2020.
The responsibility now falls under the council’s highways team which focusses on removing solely racist and offensive scrawlings.
Opposition leader Councillor Jason Perry said graffiti was now a “blight” on Croydon.
Speaking at a council meeting on Monday night, January 31, he said: “One of this council’s most short-sighted cuts was to disband the graffiti team which offered such a fantastic service keeping our borough clean and now the graffiti is spreading uncontrollably.
“Only offensive graffiti is now removed and even this takes weeks.
“To our residents and businesses it is all offensive. It gives the impression of a borough in decline and a council that does not care.
“This fly-tipping and graffiti deters investment into the borough. Why would a business choose to invest in a borough that is so run down?
“It is the often said broken window effect. Graffiti encourages more graffiti.”
The graffiti team was made redundant in December 2020.
Now the council website states it is only responsible for removing offensive graffiti from council property.
This includes council houses, schools, roads and public walls.
Offensive graffiti includes racist words or images, swear words, sexually explicit words or images and graffiti used as a form of attack against an individual or group.
At the meeting, Councillor Muhammad Ali, cabinet member for Sustainable Croydon, said: “I must emphasise, we haven’t stopped the removal of graffiti on public land.
“We are prioritising the removal of racist and offensive graffiti and stopped removing graffiti from private land at the expense of taxpayers. Instead putting the onus on landowners to bear the cross.”
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