Graffiti vandal ‘should be made to pay for bridge tag removal’

THE vandal responsible for daubing Henley Bridge with graffiti should be forced to pay for its removal, say town councillors.

They were responding to Rishi Sunak’s announcement last month of tougher measures to curb antisocial behaviour.

Under the plans, graffiti vandals would have to repair the damage they cause within 48 hours and communities would have a say on how offenders are punished.

A large black and white “H” tag was daubed at the Berkshire end of the bridge, which is Grade I listed, in May last year.

Speaking at a meeting of the council’s town and community committee, Councillor Ken Arlett said the Government’s proposals were unlikely to work.

Cllr Arlett, a member of the ruling Henley Residents Group, said: “One would imagine that the majority of graffiti is done at night-time — I can’t believe they do it in the middle of the day.

“So if there are no police on the streets, which there are not at the moment at night-time, how do they intend to catch the criminal doing graffiti?

“If they are not going to catch them they are not going to clean it within 48 hours, are they?”

Councillor Will Hamilton (Conservative) said that 34 more officers had recently joined Thames Valley Police.

But he added: “I agree with you that the graffiti should be cleaned off. If it can be cleaned off in 48 hours, then that’s better than what has been done previously.”

Councillor Kellie Hinton (HRG), who chaired the meeting, said: “It would be great but I don’t think there are magical graffiti fairies that are going to catch anybody.

“Like with all these things, people like to put rules in, then they are not necessarily able to enforce them.”

Councillor Stefan Gawrysiak (HRG) said he had written to officers at Oxfordshire County Council, which is responsible for the bridge, to say he knew who was behind the bridge tag and they should be billed for it.

He said: “It has got to be professionally removed. Yes, it has taken longer than we wanted it to, and we want it done properly rather than with battery acid, but the important thing is that the whole of this bill should be put on the person who did this.

“They should get the full £20,000/£30,000 bill for getting rid of this graffiti.”

Councillor Ian Reissmann (HRG) said: “Apparently we are aware of the identity of the person who carried out the graffiti, which is a criminal offence.

“Has the matter been reported to the police and have they investigated? That would certainly help with any potential restoration of costs.”

Councillor David Eggleton (Ind) said the underside of the bridge was badly damaged and wanted to know when this would be repaired. Cllr Hinton replied: “They are planning what they are going to do but they don’t know when they are going to do it yet.”

Cllr Hamilton said: “It has been two to three years of reporting it and nothing seems to be happening. Quite frankly, it’s not good enough.

“The underside of the bridge is broken and it’s a Grade I listed structure. The paving stones have got to be replaced. That has been 18 months in the waiting.

“The graffiti has been around for months. People will say it is not just about getting Henley right for the regatta, it’s the time we have most of our guests here taking pictures.

“Please can we try to get the graffiti off before regatta because it has been around for too long?”

He suggested that town clerk Sheridan Jacklin-Edward should write to the county council and stress the urgency of the work required.

Cllr Hinton replied: “I do appreciate your concern and frustration but it’s not our responsibility, the bridge is the responsibility of the county council.

“We have held them accountable and we have tried to push this sooner within our remit but they are providing us with an update.

“It might not be the update that we want to hear but there is communication there — they are listening to us and they are responding to us and I don’t think that there’s any reason to put on any more pressure.”

Cllr Reissmann added: “Just repeating the same message again and again is possibly even counter-productive.

“If we were to contact them again we could ask for confirmation of a date when they would carry out repairs or an indication of a date. That’s some purpose.”

The committee agreed to ask for a date for repairs and whether the graffiti incident had been reported to the police.

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