Bedford Borough Council spent £41,570 on graffiti removal last year

A new report from Structural Repairs has revealed that Bedford recorded over 400 incidents of graffiti last year.

In August and September 2020, the structural engineer specialists requested data from 381 councils in the UK.

By using Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Regulation requests, the councils were asked to provide the number of graffiti incidents recorded, and the amount spent on graffiti removal, in 2019.

Bedford Borough Council recorded 402 incidents of graffiti and £41,570 in graffiti removal costs.

Out of all council responses this is the 26th highest expenditure in the UK.

The council with the highest number of graffiti incidents was Hackney with 29,236, and Glasgow City forked out £649,914 on graffiti removal costs.

Bedford Borough Council can investigate graffiti on both public and private property but can only remove from public property.

Graffiti includes painting, writing, soiling, marking and defacing property.

Damaging property with graffiti is a criminal offence and you can be fined with a Fixed Penalty Notice of £100.

They are unable to remove graffiti from:

- heights or where specialist training or equipment is needed

- surfaces where its removal would cause further damage.

Out of 381 councils that were surveyed for information 200 councils provided the number of graffiti incidents, 113 councils provided the amount spent on graffiti removal.

There were 32 councils who do not record the number of graffiti incidents and 38 councils do not record the cost to remove graffiti.

Graffiti was included as a part of the overall street cleaning service/contract for 115 councils, and as a result cannot extract either the graffiti incidents or costs, or both. At the time of publication 107 councils are yet to provide a response.

Structural Repairs provide a full range of structural repairs and building renovation solutions for commercial, industrial, and residential customers.

The full findings can be found here.