Community spirit deters taggers

LAYERS: When someone tages the skate park, the council paints over it within hours. PHOTOS/ELLIOT PARKER WTA120314EPGRAF01

If you want to keep your town pristine and graffiti-free, Brian McWilliams might have some ideas for you.

As community facilities manager at Carterton District Council, it is Mr McWilliam's job to look after the appearance of the town.

He said the best measure a town can take against taggers is to ensure public spaces are open and well-lit.

This includes cropping low branches and having lights positioned low to the ground.

Public toilet walls have a "Uracryl" layer painted on them so tags are easy to clean off.

There is no "graffiti wall" in the town. Mr McWilliams says such a thing just encourages taggers to move their tagging on to nearby property.

But the most interesting discovery, according to Mr McWilliams, is that taking ownership of a public wall means the space gets respect.

The council has teamed up with Wai Art and now, instead of blank walls, many public spaces in Carterton feature works from artists such as Anna-Marie Kingsley and Sandra Wong as well as Carterton School pupils.

"People used to tag these walls, but no one has tagged them once since the paintings went up," Mr McWilliams said.

"It's about taking ownership."

Mr McWilliams takes pride in being able to paint over a tag within four hours.

"They put it up, we paint over it. It doesn't bother me."

The council has plans for more art work to go up in the town in the future and will continue to make sure that tagging is not a problem in Carterton.