Stop moaning about graffiti and start reporting it!That was the message from South Woodham's Community Safety Forum this week.

South Woodham is in the fortunate position of having Chelmsford Borough Council's graffiti clearance services for free, said forum chairman Barry Smith, but residents just aren't reporting the vandalism.

"We are getting a lot of complaints but no one is reporting the graffiti. We want the community to come together and report it to the Community Information Centre on Baron Road then action can be taken.If people don't report the graffiti then, quite simply, it stays there," he said.

He stressed that when reporting graffiti relating to private property, a full address is needed.

Householders are then sent a form by the town council which they must sign and return to authorise the council's hit squad to move in.

Since September, a number of major problem areas have been tackled, with more hotspots around the town in line for action.

Concrete bollards have even been replaced with the removable type in one area to allow the clean-up squad access.

Mr Smith admitted that the problem will never completely go away, but said they would persevere because the ripple effect of graffiti is too great to ignore.

Published Thursday, May 29, 2003

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