NORTHAMPTON GIVEN NEW POWERS TO SCRUB OUT GRAFFITI

NORTHAMPTON GIVEN NEW POWERS TO SCRUB OUT GRAFFITI"
Northampton will be piloting new powers to tackle graffiti as part of the offensive on anti-social behaviour, the Home Office announced today. As part of Operation 'Scrub-It', Northampton Borough Council will now be able to clean up graffiti on 'street furniture', such as phone boxes and railways bridges and charge back the cost to the owner if they have not removed the graffiti within the set time given by the council. These powers are in addition to new laws that came into force today across England and Wales that ban the sale of spray paints to under-16s and allow penalty notices to be issued for graffiti and fly-posting. The tough measures are contained in the Anti-Social Behaviour Act to tackle the graffiti which spoils local environments Operation 'Scrub-It' is part of the Government's TOGETHER campaign, which will equip local councils, police, housing officers, environmental health officers and others with the tools they need to deal with anti-social behaviour. Home Office Minister Hazel Blears said: "Graffiti is an eye-sore which blights our communities and damages people's quality of life. One in three people say that graffiti and vandalism is a problem in their area, and removing graffiti is key part of the Government's TOGETHER campaign to tackle anti-social behaviour. It is essential if we are to restore pride in our communities, making them better places to live and work. "Graffiti is criminal damage, a crime that costs the taxpayer hundreds of millions a year to clean up as well as creating an environment where people feel threatened and fear of crime increases. Measures such as penalty notices and piloting new powers for councils to tackle graffiti more easily send out a strong message that this kind of anti-social behaviour will be tackled not tolerated." A spokesperson for Northampton Borough Council said: "We welcome any additional powers that will help us tackle graffiti removal more effectively. Dealing with graffiti is an on-going problem in urban areas and one of the biggest obstacles we face is removing graffiti from privately owned street furniture such as cable boxes. "Over the next few months we will be talking to the Home Office to iron out the specific details as to how these new powers can be implemented. "We urge people to continue to report any incidents of graffiti to us so that we can investigate, clean up and where possible take action against those responsible. Our graffiti hotline number is Northampton 838978."

NORTHAMPTON GIVEN NEW POWERS TO SCRUB OUT GRAFFITI"

Northampton will be piloting new powers to tackle graffiti as part of the offensive on anti-social behaviour, the Home Office announced today.

As part of Operation 'Scrub-It', Northampton Borough Council will now be able to clean up graffiti on 'street furniture', such as phone boxes and railways bridges and charge back the cost to the owner if they have not removed the graffiti within the set time given by the council.

These powers are in addition to new laws that came into force today across England and Wales that ban the sale of spray paints to under-16s and allow penalty notices to be issued for graffiti and fly-posting. The tough measures are contained in the Anti-Social Behaviour Act to tackle the graffiti which spoils local environments

Operation 'Scrub-It' is part of the Government's TOGETHER campaign, which will equip local councils, police, housing officers, environmental health officers and others with the tools they need to deal with anti-social behaviour.

Home Office Minister Hazel Blears said:

"Graffiti is an eye-sore which blights our communities and damages people's quality of life. One in three people say that graffiti and vandalism is a problem in their area, and removing graffiti is key part of the Government's TOGETHER campaign to tackle anti-social behaviour. It is essential if we are to restore pride in our communities, making them better places to live and work.

"Graffiti is criminal damage, a crime that costs the taxpayer hundreds of millions a year to clean up as well as creating an environment where people feel threatened and fear of crime increases. Measures such as penalty notices and piloting new powers for councils to tackle graffiti more easily send out a strong message that this kind of anti-social behaviour will be tackled not tolerated."

A spokesperson for Northampton Borough Council said:

"We welcome any additional powers that will help us tackle graffiti removal more effectively. Dealing with graffiti is an on-going problem in urban areas and one of the biggest obstacles we face is removing graffiti from privately owned street furniture such as cable boxes.

"Over the next few months we will be talking to the Home Office to iron out the specific details as to how these new powers can be implemented.

"We urge people to continue to report any incidents of graffiti to us so that we can investigate, clean up and where possible take action against those responsible. Our graffiti hotline number is Northampton 838978."