‘Scourge of graffiti’ in Portadown highlighted during street art debate

Councillor Kyle Moutray said he had first raised the town’s graffiti problem in 2024 but the situation had not improved.

And he claimed most graffiti was only removed when it was done so by private landowners or community groups.

The DUP councillor made his remarks during a council debate on the promotion of street art across the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council area.

The DUP representative commented: “It’s good that this motion acknowledges the scourge of graffiti in the borough, and that’s something I’ve talked about before.

“Back in 2024, I brought a motion to this council on addressing the scourge of graffiti across our borough.

“At that time, a council survey identified that there were over 250 of these tags across Portadown, Craigavon and Lurgan alone. That shows the scale of the problem.

“The majority of these were on utility boxes and DfI road signs, and unfortunately neither DfI nor the telecommunications companies that own these utility boxes are really forthcoming when it comes to cleaning them.

“Two years on from that motion, I have to say I’ve not seen any real noticeable improvement, and it continues to be one of the top problems that constituents bring to me.

“Certainly, in Portadown, graffiti is only removed when done so by private landowners, by the PCSP whenever it’s deemed offensive, or by community-led initiatives.

“A really good example of this was back in July of this year, when Portadown Youth Providers Forum came together to remove graffiti at the Bann Bridge in Portadown.

“This is an area of natural beauty. It had been blighted with graffiti for a long time. Then I visited a month later and it was back to square one, with graffiti everywhere again, unfortunately.

“That shows the problem at hand there. When the motion was originally considered, a number of options were discussed. One of those was the possibility of engaging with the Probation Board.

“I don’t think I’ve really seen any evidence of that, and I think it’s still something that should be considered because graffiti continues to be an issue throughout the borough.

“So, yes, I welcome the idea of positive street art. I think it’s a good idea. But I would like to see the same level of ambition applied when it comes to removing graffiti across the borough and cleaning up our town centres.

“When I speak to ratepayers, that is something they raise with me on a daily basis. They want cleaner towns and villages.

As proposer of the motion on street art, Alliance Councillor Jessica Johnston commented: “I completely agree with Cllr Moutray’s points on graffiti removal. That is important.

"The sentiment of the motion is to try and find practical solutions to graffiti, and hopefully we can work through that.

“I know from conversations with community groups in my own DEA that they’d be keen to see a scheme like this set up and have indeed looked into ways that they might be able to do it themselves.

“Having that council support in leading the scheme from the front is vital for them. I appreciate it might not be replicated across all our towns and villages, but I’m sure there would be a fair few that would [be interested].

“I look forward to seeing the development of this scheme.”