PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
REMOVING GRAFFITI FROM STREET FURNITURE OWNED BY THE UTILITIES AND TELECOMS COMPANIES (3 June 2003)

That this House notes that graffiti remains one of the country's biggest concerns, with in London alone more than three quarters of residents listing it as a quality of life concern and local authorities spending more than ú7 million a year removing it; acknowledges that the existence of graffiti increases fears about crime; notes evidence that when graffiti is removed quickly this tends to stop it from recurring because it defeats the object for graffiti artists who want their tags to be seen and recognised; finds that many of the most depressing examples of graffiti appear on street furniture owned by the utilities and telecoms companies (the statutory undertakers), some of whom refuse to clean their graffiti or even to let local authorities clean it for them; therefore supports proposals in the DEFRA consultation Living Places - Powers, Rights, Responsibilities to create a new duty on owners of street furniture to keep their property clear of graffiti, and to extend the powers of local authorities to intervene and deal with graffiti; and calls on the Government to produce amendments to the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill at Report Stage to incorporate the Street Furniture (Graffiti) Bill, whose aim is to give local authorities the power to order statutory undertakers to clean their street furniture of graffiti, to remove graffiti from such street furniture, and to recover the costs involved.

Sponsored by:
Dame Siobhain McDonagh (Labour)