MP Presses for anti graffiti powers on "street furniture"

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 9th Jun 2003

A group of MPs from all parties including Vincent Cable has put down a motion in parliament to amend the Anti Social Behaviour Bill, now under consideration, to place an obligation on utilities who own 'street furniture' - British Telecom and Telewest, network Rail, the owners of the electricity subs stations, Thames Water, London Transport - to keep their property clear of graffiti.

Councils would be encouraged to clean up the property and recover the costs.

Vincent Cable said: "the council cleans up domestic property on demand but the utilities often leave graffiti for months or years contributing to a generally 'down at heal' look in many areas and adding to the fear of crime. "

"This is simply laziness. Their managers often do not live locally and this has very low priority for them",

"The top priority is to catch the graffiti 'artists' who leave their tags and hand out deterrent sentences in the courts including cleaning up the mess. But property owners also have a responsibility; that is what this amendment is about."