FOI request (FOIR-835815825)

Council Spending on Graffiti Removal

Requested Thu 07 May 2026
Responded Fri 19 June 2026

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Response

 

For the period 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, we have recorded the following:

 

1. Total number of graffiti instances reported in 2025 = 566

 

a.   Jan 2025           = 78

b.   Feb 2025          = 69

c.    Mar 2025          = 49

d.   Apr 2025          = 67

e.   May 2025          = 45

f.     Jun 2025          = 11

g.   Jul 2025           = 67

h.   Aug 2025          = 23

i.     Sep 2025          = 20

j.     Oct 2025           = 63

k.   Nov 2025          = 33

l.     Dec 2025          = 39

m. Total                 = 564

2. Total number of graffiti instances resolved in 2025, e.g. cleaned/removed = 564

 

3. Total council spending on graffiti removal/cleaning in 2025 (if the exact spend isn't available, how much was budgeted?) =

 

In July 2019 the street cleaning contract came in house. Graffiti is not budgeted for separately and is included in the wider Street Cleansing budget. As all of our teams within Street Cleansing are multi discipline our budget is not broken down to that level. In 2018-19 the cost per item removed was calculated at £38 per item and this would equate to £49 today using the Bank of England inflation calculator. However, some costs will have reduced as prior to the contract coming in house council staff would receive the reports and notify the contractor.

 

4. Total council budget for graffiti removal/cleaning in 2026 = Graffiti is not budgeted for separately and is included in the wider Street Cleansing budget. As all of our teams within Street Cleansing are multi discipline our budget is not broken down to that level.

 

5. Estimated typical response time for Council to remove/clean graffiti after it is reported = 19 days

 

Month	Number of reports	Total days from receipt to closure for all reports in month	Average days
Jan	78	1064	13.64
Feb	69	1341	19.43
Mar	49	715	14.59
Apr	67	1347	20.10
May	45	474	10.53
Jun	11	44	4.00
Jul	67	2786	41.58
Aug	23	1137	49.43
Sep	20	444	22.20
Oct	63	997	15.83
Nov	33	324	9.82
Dec	39	183	4.69
Grand Total	564	10856	19.25

 

Response time is dependent on obtaining permissions from land/property owner, availability of equipment, type of graffiti etc.

 

Priority is given for removing graffiti that is offensive.