IT’S costing about $30,000 a year to clean up, but council has a new plan for stamping out graffiti which is akin to fighting fire with fire.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
At Wednesday’s meeting, councillors will consider a monster five-year graffiti management plan which is tackling local vandalism on different fronts.
Removal and reporting are pitched as immediate priorities, but engaging artists to create more murals and public street art to divert graffiti is seen as a longer term strategy.
It’s no surprise to local artist Shane Salvador, the man behind the famous mural emblazoned on the side of the recently demolished BWS building on Brisbane St.
Mr Salvador, and fellow artist Dean Sunderland, worked with the Coledale community to bring some new colour and life to Granny Munro Park, which he said has been positively received.
He put its success down, in part, to including “the Aboriginal community as well as the wider community” in the process.
There’s already talks of a few more murals popping up in town, with the water tank at the Oxley Lookout shaping as a potential canvas.
“A lot of tagging is done in kind-of visible locations,” he said.
“They have rebuffed that wall a number of times and spent money for fencing and security.”
Sarah Byrnes, community development officer at the Coledale community centre, said the Granny Munro Park murals have definitely deterred vandals.
“It’s been there for six or seven months and it hasn’t been touched,” she said.
Ms Byrnes said there are also plans for more public artwork in Coledale with the Warral Rd bus stop touted as the next site.
According to the draft graffiti management plan, it cost Tamworth Regional Council more than $95,000 to clean up 290 instances of graffiti over the last three years.
The costs were somewhat eased by the assistance of community groups and volunteering which provided an estimated $20,000 of elbow grease to rub out the vandalism.
If endorsed, council will put the draft plan on public exhibition for 28 days.