Action is being taken to tackle the ‘blight’ of graffiti on
Britain’s roads and railways as part of the Great British
September Clean, Transport Secretary has announced (Tuesday 15 September).
In a letter to the rail industry, the Transport Secretary has
called for long-term plans to tackle the issue. These proposals
should build on action already taken, including a review of
response times to graffiti vandalism so any instances are dealt
with quickly, helping to prevent more serious crimes and
passengers to feel safe when returning to the railway.
Network Rail has already undertaken significant work in this
area, allocating an additional £1million in the spring to carry
out a graffiti blitz on top of its annual £3.5million programme
of anti-graffiti measures.
Graffiti on the railway can be unsightly, make passengers feel
unsafe and, if not dealt with quickly, can lead to further
crime taking place. People often put their lives at risk in the
act of spraying difficult surfaces, such as bridges or trains
in sidings.
During the lockdown period, Highways England has also
undertaken a cleaning blitz around main roads – removing 33%
more graffiti compared to the same time last year. Highways
England will now double the level of its resources and
activity, to speed up graffiti removal rates on the road
network across England.
The Transport Secretary visited London Bridge on Monday (14
September) to see first-hand the clean-up work carried out by
Network Rail’s southern graffiti taskforce.
He also visited a railway arch mural created by street artist
Jimmy C.in memory of the victims of the London Bridge terror
attacks. The series of hearts floating in space on Stoney
Street is one of a 100 murals produced by the artist - and
fellow street artist Lionel Stanhope - set to be in place
across stations in the South East by Spring 2021.
Transport Secretary
said:
“The phenomenal efforts have been made throughout this
pandemic to ensure our transport network is clean and
maintained to the highest standards, helping keep people
safe, and people deserve roads and railways that are not
blighted by graffiti and vandalism.
“As we continue our focus on building back better as we
recover from COVID-19, I want us to feel proud of our
transport infrastructure and public spaces. Our extra
investment to remove graffiti from our roads and railways
means we can double our efforts to fight this issue and
represents a positive step in the right direction.”
Richard McIlwain, Deputy Chief Executive of
environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, said:
“We would encourage everyone to do their bit to help clean up
the country and, during the Great British September Clean,
ridding our transport network of the graffiti would be a
positive step towards creating a better environment for
everyone.
“Places that are covered in graffiti, particularly low-grade
tagging, signal to the community at large that an area is
unloved and uncared for and leads to increases in other
environmental crimes such as littering and fly-tipping so we
would urge everyone who is responsible for looking after our
transport network to keep it graffiti and litter-free.”
The Government has been working closely with train operators to
increase services back to close to normal levels as passenger
numbers increase, putting in extensive measures in place to
make sure their services are safe to use, including heightened
cleaning procedures, queue management systems, and providing
hand sanitiser in the busiest stations on the network.
