Does anyone know what can be done about the increasing amount of graffiti down Dartmouth and London Road? I’ve reported it on Love Clean Streets and had success in the past, but sadly not recently.
Also, does anyone know if it’s the responsibility of the council or shop owners for graffiti on shutters? The area looks especially bad at night when all the shutters are down.
Sorry Jen that there hasn’t been a reply yet to that important question.
I think we concluded in another topic about the telephone exchange that when graffiti is on private property, then it is the responsibility of the property owner.
The exception is when the graffiti is significantly offensive and then the council may take action on grounds of public decency or safety reasons.
Be assured this topic is of great concern to us all. It is maybe that because it is so depressing to talk about we are reluctant to discuss it (?) but to keep the forum responsive and receptive to first time posters I have offered my thoughts.
Shutters are difficult as they tend to be up during the working day and, even when they are down, spraying them can allow chemicals to go through to the front of the shop, which may not be ideal.
But other than shutters, I find that love clean streets is a good method to report graffiti and it often gets dealt with. I can’t understand why the council won’t deal with the telephone exchange graffiti since it is very visible in the public domain.
I have to admit that I don’t often walk along there when the shutters are down, so had not noticed how widespread this was. I took a look this morning and it would seem that ALL those shutters that are more ‘closed’ (as opposed to the grills) have been tagged. Indeed this is an issue, and one I hope the @FHCllrs will help with? I know that the Council probably can’t afford to simply clean all private property, but in this case I wonder whether there might be some form of subsidised programme to use the council team but have the cost offset through businesses contributing (but cheaper than going with a commercial contractor), and getting this done all at once to “spruce up” the area.
I also agree with @Michael that the public nuisance and terrible eyesore that is the Telephone Exchange should be dealt with. I would love to see the council serving some form of enforcement notice on the property owner to clean it up, or face having it done by the Council and being fined instead.
It has been like this since 2023, getting progressively worse. If the council are unable to deal with this then they should use a section 215 notice to require the property owner to clear it up.
Potentially the same is true for the boarding around the coop site next door, but I’m sure the council could paint over the hoardings and that would last for about two weeks.
Thanks for tagging us in this, Rob!
@Jen - if there’s a particular section of graffiti that you’ve tried to get cleaned up through Love Clean Streets but haven’t had any luck, outside of the issue with the shutters, drop me an email about it (fergus.navaratnam-blair@lewisham.gov.uk) with the location and a photo and I’ll chase it up directly with the relevant council teams to see what we can do.
I will look into whether there’s anything the council can do about graffiti on the shutters. As @michael points out, there are certainly complications with this - but I would like to at least explore the possibility of some kind of subsidised or at-cost programme to support business owners in getting them cleaned up.
I believe the telephone exchange building is in Perry Vale ward, but I agree we need to try to do something about it; I’ll speak to the PV councillors to see if they’ve had a chance to explore options for this yet.
Thanks for all your replies.
I’ll send the email once I have the photos.
I know Matoom opposite Sainsbury’s repainted their shutter a month or so ago, and it thankfully has stayed tag free along with the vacant hairdressers next to it, so there’s hope!
There’s a lot of tags on the walls outside the flats on London rd intersected by Taymount rise.
I believe the flats are owned by Lewisham Council..
We don’t have a graffiti issue with the hoardings at the gas holder site in Bell Green. The original painted hoarding had an anti graffiti paint, which meant it just washed off. The current advertising boards attached to it are also easy to clean. And graffiti is removed promptly. I occasionally have to tell them about any graffiti. But I think the message has been understood by the graffiti scribblers, so it is a rare occurrence. Zero tolerance is the answer.