Police chief and councillor row over graffiti bill

Cheltenham Borough Council paid to clean off graffiti at Town Centre East car park

The Gloucestershire Police and Crime commissioner (PCC) has accused a Cheltenham Borough councillor of "slinging arrows at the police" in a row over graffiti costs.

It's after Julian Tooke, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Pittville suggested that a £70,000 bill to clear up graffiti at a car park should be sent to the commissioner.

The costs included £54,000 repairs at Town Centre East car park in Grovesnor Terrace, with the remainder on security measures.

The police say dealing with criminal damage is not something they can solve alone.

'We need more policing'

The row began after Councillor Tooke said: "We spend our lives cleaning up graffiti and dealing with tagging. This is a cost we don’t have control of and it’s something quite frightening.

"I also note the police and crime commissioner takes 14% of the council tax whereas we take 7%.

“It’s a cost in terms of people’s wellbeing, civic pride and so on. It’s a cost to private business and individuals.

“Can we go to the police and crime commissioner who has a responsibility for this and suggest that we need more policing and perhaps we could even send him an invoice?”

Chris Nelson was re-elected as Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner in May this year

PCC Chris Nelson hit back saying: "Any form of crime is never just a matter for the police, and it’s the same with graffiti.

"It needs a multi-agency approach, and I have called a meeting with partners to discuss anti-social behaviour case reviews in Cheltenham.

"Graffiti will be on the agenda where we can discuss a collective approach to it.

“But slinging arrows at the police is not very helpful and ignores the council’s own responsibilities."

Gloucestershire Constabulary added it was aware of the issues involving graffiti and has set up a task-force to look at prevention, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Insp Steve Benbow from the Cheltenham Neighbourhood Policing Team added: "My team will be increasing patrols in the area as part of an operation targeting anti-social behaviour and will robustly deal with anyone caught in the act.”