Holidays lead to soaring graffiti

Middlesbrough,England,Uk

School holidays have spelled problems for graffiti busters on Teesside.

The graffiti team at Redcar and Cleveland Council is reported to have been "inundated" with requests to clean up after vandals since the schools broke up in July.

Among areas hit by graffiti is a stretch of path in Normanby, where names have been daubed in paint on part of the walkway, which was recently resurfaced.

The vandalism has angered Teesville ward councillors George Dunning and Sheelagh Clarke.

"The surface was only laid a few months ago and the graffiti now there looks horrendous," said Cllr Dunning.

"People whose homes back on to the path have also suffered problems with yobs throwing stones at their houses."

Cllr Clarke added: "The wardens have told me the council's graffiti team has been inundated with it being the school holidays.

"This area along the path affected by the graffiti is not a huge area, but it is a lovely setting and on a newly-laid path."

She added: "The children who congregate here are from Normanby, Teesville and surrounding areas.

"The police and wardens go into the schools to talk to the children and I can't understand the mentality of spoiling such a lovely area."

Cllr Clarke added: "The council is trying its best to make the area nice and these kids are out to wreck that good work."

The damage caused by the vandals comes after explicit graffiti appeared on flagstones and benches in Bakehouse Square, Guisborough, just days after a £70,000 facelift was completed.

Meanwhile, Redcar MP Vera Baird is supporting a campaign by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy focusing on a zero-tolerance approach to graffiti and backing Government proposals to hand on the spot fines to offenders and ban the sale of spray paints to teenagers.

Recent research from Keep Britain Tidy reveals it costs councils nationwide £27m each year to shift graffiti.

Keep Britain Tidy's regional director, Marian Harrison, said: "With graffiti, we have allowed what is a crime to grow and blight our poorest places.

"For the sake of all those who have had their property damaged by graffiti or who have to view racist messages or slogans daubed on their walls, the situation has to change."