Grafitti is still a big issue in parts of Rayleigh and Rawreth (and indeed across the district!)
One of our recent successes has been to get the council to spend an extra ?7500 per year on clearing the stuff up. In practice this means that instead of one ‘clean-up run’ across the district there will now be two.
Some of our Downhall residents has been very public-spirited and send a regular spreadsheet to the council with what grafitti has appeared and what has been cleared up. Frankly, things are happening too slowly. Some of it is being cleared up in two months, some is only cleared up after six months.
It would be easy to complain that the council officers should get this work done more quickly – but they have a lot of obstacles to overcome.
In fact the officers at the council – Debora Byrne and Caroline Bell – want to get grafitti removed and if you spot any you can call them on the number below.
Debora has told us (in various emails) :
Caroline Bell and I are working very hard on the graffiti problems. But in some cases (private companies) is very frustrating. We want to keep Rochford cleaner, greener and safer. …
….We have contacted the relevant organization such as BT (phone box) and Essex County Council (Traffic Light, Bus Stop/Shelter, Lightining). They promised us that they will arrange graffiti removal….
….When the graffiti is found on private land – I would like to highlight that the Council needs the disclaimer from the land or property owner in order to arrange graffiti removal. Once the disclaimer is received we add the area into our monthly list….
….Please do not hesitate to contact me or my colleague Caroline Bell on 01702 318 111 if you have any queries related to the graffiti protocol….
….I would like to let you know that we are pressurising the companies as we do contact BT and other private companies every month….
Meanwhile some of the grafitti removal in Rawreth is the responsibilty of CountyRoute(A130) plc
and they don’t seem to respond to requests very positively. This is a pity because Rawreth Parish Council is trying very hard on this. This might be the difference between a democratically elected council of local peoplel , and a plc in SW London.
The people in charge there aren’t falling over themselves to remove grafitti, but who knows they might do so if they had a few more emails. If you can think of some grafitti in Rawreth that might be on their property, let us know and we can give you the plc’s email address !