Graffiti and fly posting removal

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The Council removes graffiti and fly posting that appears within the borough’s public realm on a geographic basis.

This is conducted in three different ways.

  • Street furniture: The Council will remove this as part of public highway maintenance. 
  • Domestic private property fronting onto the public highway: The Council provides a free complimentary removal service.  
  • Commercial property: The Council can provide a paid for service subject to quotation.

Enhanced neighbourhood clean up

We are completing a year-long programme of enhanced street cleaning and graffiti clearance as part of plans to tackle anti-social behaviour and enviro-crime across the borough. Our new teams will be going ward by ward, from July 2023 to July 2024, using new equipment to tackle grime. 

Domestic private property

Removal of graffiti and fly posting that appears on private property is the responsibility of the property owner. Failure to arrange timely removal may result in enforcement action being taken by the Council.

The Council understands that removal can be difficult and so provides a free removal service to residents. There are a number of criteria relevant to removal.

  • We will only remove graffiti and fly posting that can be reached from a ground floor level, that fronts directly onto the public highway. 
  • Where graffiti and fly posting is located out of reach (anything other than ground floor level), it will be the responsibility of the property owner to arrange removal. Failure to arrange removal in a timely manner, may result in enforcement action being taken by the Council. 
  • We will not remove graffiti or fly posting from properties belonging to Housing Associations, large landlords etc.
  • Removal can be conducted via jet washing, chemical removal or painting over (please see further details below).
  • We cannot provide a specific date for removal, as jobs are tackled on a geographic basis for efficiency. 
  • We aim to remove offensive graffiti or fly posting within 24 hours.  This can be reported to the Council. 

Painting over graffiti

One form of removal is painting over. This is relevant for graffiti on rendered or painted surfaces. Under these circumstances, we aim to match the paint to the wall colour as best we can. However, we cannot guarantee an exact match in all cases. We operate with the following base colours. 

  • Grey
  • Dark Grey
  • Black
  • Green
  • White
  • Blue
  • Magnolia

If you want a specific colour, then you will have to provide the paint for the Council. This may add a delay with conducting removal.

Commercial Properties

We do not offer a complementary removal service for businesses, or other public bodies.

We do offer a paid for service for businesses and can arrange for a quotation to be provided, based on a site visit to assess the work required.

It is the responsibility of these organisations to arrange timely graffiti and fly posting removal from their properties. Failure to arrange removal in a timely manner, may result in enforcement action being taken by the Council.

Report graffiti and fly posting to utility companies

If the graffiti or fly posting are on privately owned street furniture, please report it directly to the organisation responsible. Examples are:  

Further information and Council contact details

Non offensive graffiti on domestic private property, will be removed on a geographic basis. This does not require being reported to the Council.

You can report offensive graffiti and fly posting or, if you are a business, request a quotation for removal in the following ways:

Last updated: 5 July 2023