City of Canning to consider clamp down on graffiti across private properties

The City of Canning could foot the bill to wipe graffiti from household fences following reports the vandalism had increased across both private and public local properties.

The idea will form part of a sweeping review of the city’s anti-graffiti program endorsed by Canning council last week.

Cr Ben Kunze’s motion at Tuesday’s meeting addresses what he says is a “plague on society” and requests city staff review current policies, spending and resourcing into programs used to combat the vandalism.

“I’m not going to pretend it’s an issue that’s confined to the City of Canning,” he said.

“Anecdotally I reckon it’s even worse over the last two years (and) I’d argue that a lot of graffiti goes unreported.”

Cr Kunze said he had seen graffiti linger on public infrastructure like Adenia Park and the Canning River foreshore for “lengthy periods of time”.

His motion highlighted a gap in local policy where graffiti on private fences that back on to road reserves can remain untouched as the graffiti posed no real impact to the homeowner.

“Several years ago, there was an issue on Acanthus Road in Willetton where there was graffiti on a side fence, the city wouldn’t take action because it was on a private fence but the owner of the property didn’t want to spend the money to remove it,” he said.

“The end result is the community is the loser.”

Cr Kunze’s successful motion also said fences and poles along Leach Highway covered in graffiti were a “total blight” to the local area and he wanted trees planted in areas of repetitive vandalism to remove public sight of a “canvas”.

Cr Mark Bain seconded the motion, adding there seemed to be a “fair bit of confusion” about who should be cleaning graffiti up.

Cr Shen Sekhon said she had noticed an increase in the issue outside of school times and wanted young people to do better things with their time.

“Graffiti is an ongoing issue faced by residents, particularly during school holidays,” she said.

“This is a situation that was quite rampant in Willetton a few months ago during the elections at the onset of school holidays.

“It would be great to see how we can further engage our youth in meaningful activities and work.”