Hampshire County Council’s highways teams are cracking down on paint-daubed walls and bridges over the summer to keep streets clear and clean of graffiti crime.

In an average year, the teams clean nearly 2,000 sites, regularly removing graffiti from highway structures such as bridges, underpasses or retaining walls and helping to deter further attacks.

The teams carry out regular inspections to identify where work is needed, and then remove graffiti using a combination of non toxic chemicals and pressure washing. In some cases, graffiti is obscured by over-painting with masonry paint. A dedicated 24 hour emergency response team clears offensive graffiti as a matter of urgency.

As well as inspections and emergencies, all County Council highway structures receive an annual deep clean, with the surrounding walls and ceilings pressure washed and sanitised to remove all dirt and grime.

The County Council also works closely with local schools to put in place permanent murals designed by children once graffiti has been removed. Murals can help prevent graffiti, as vandals do not have a blank canvas to work on. There are around 48 structures across Hampshire which have murals with children’s ideas and designs applied to the walls and ceilings.

Councillor Mel Kendal, Executive Member for Environment and Transport, said: ‘With the long summer evenings, there is more opportunity for people to commit graffiti crimes, We therefore need to be vigilant in tackling graffiti, which can affect people’s quality of life and they way they feel about where they live. We are committed to keeping our structures clean and use the latest in prevention techniques, such as specialised paint and a 24 hour response clean up team.

“Small areas of graffiti tend to attract more vandalism if they are not cleared up, which is why we carry out regular inspections. Another effective measure is the application of anti graffiti coating systems as these make graffiti easy to remove and prevent the paint from sticking.

“It is good that we are continuing to work closely with local schools to involve children in designing murals. This helps them feel part of the community as well as reducing graffiti crime”.