Kingston to take action on graffiti across the city
Free graffiti removal kits, education for young people, the fast removal of undesirable graffiti and supporting public and street art are some of the ways Council will manage graffiti in Kingston under its new Graffiti Action Plan 2020-2025.
With the help of the community, Council has developed an updated plan that seeks to find better, more innovative ways to manage graffiti across the municipality and build on its already strong reputation in this space.
Kingston Mayor Georgina Oxley said the community wants Council to be proactive in finding new ways to manage the issue of graffiti in their neighbourhoods and that’s why we have developed a new action plan.
“We recognise that unwanted graffiti and tagging can create social and economic problems in the City of Kingston,” Cr Oxley said. “We want to work with the community to remove undesirable graffiti quickly.”
Young people and graffiti artists were part of the consultation and helped shape the Action Plan thanks to funding from the Victorian Government’s Graffiti Prevention Grants Program.
Part of the plan is finding appropriate locations to facilitate murals by street artists and expanding Public Art projects across the city.
“We want to encourage and support quality, progressive and varied public art across Kingston including artworks by street artists,” said Cr Oxley.
Council will also work closely with police to support the investigation and prosecution of graffiti offenders.
Key actions include:
- Removal of obscene or offensive graffiti within 24 hours of it being reported to Council
- Supporting the provision of quality, progressive and varied public art into the urban landscape.
- Working to educate young people’s understanding of the value of public assets
- Promoting community reporting of graffiti to Victoria Police
- Providing free graffiti removal kits to the community to remove graffiti from their property
Kingston’s proactive approach to tackling graffiti has been recognised by other Victorian councils and they are now looking to Kingston as a leader as they shape their own graffiti management policies.
