For the first time, the City of Melbourne’s Rapid Response Clean Team will proactively patrol graffiti hotspots in neighbourhoods outside of the CBD, while increasing its response rate by 50 per cent to remove graffiti quicker
Council is scrubbing the city clean and making sure it stays that way – removing the equivalent of five MCG’s worth of graffiti and clearing more than 3,473 tonnes of dumped rubbish since the start of the year.
Building on its momentum from this year’s Graffiti Blitz, more than 106,000m2 of graffiti has been cleaned – a 140 per cent increase before the blitz that occurred between March and June.
The introduction of the QR code reporting system saw residents and visitors play a greater role in reporting graffiti, recording an approximate 60 per cent rise in reporting during this period.
This increase in reporting has been maintained since the blitz in March and has been instrumental in maintaining the amenity of the city.
It has allowed Council to double down on its efforts and allocate resourcing more effectively, determining the optimal service levels required for each neighbourhood.
The success of the program has helped to identify graffiti ‘hot spots’ and allowed Council to develop a Graffiti Management and Prevention Plan to maintain the momentum created by the blitz.
This includes a detailed database of the types of graffiti across the city and the locations most at risk of repeat offences, such as:
• Hoddle Grid – Elizabeth St to Swanston St
• Adjacent to RMIT Campus – Latrobe St to Franklin St
• Docklands – Collins St to Latrobe St
• North Melbourne – Errol St & Victoria St
• Carlton – Lygon St to Rathdowne St
While Council is getting on with the job of keeping our city clean, it’s also ramping up efforts and targeting those doing the wrong thing.
More than 720 infringement notices or fines have been handed out to those illegally dumping rubbish or littering since the start of the year.
Since the graffiti blitz began in March, the Rapid Response Clean Team has completed more than 34,200 jobs.
Almost 40 per cent of the graffiti removed was from the central city, followed closely by North Melbourne and Carlton (37 per cent), while West Melbourne and Kensington accounted for 16 per cent of total graffiti jobs.
More than 75 per cent of the Clean Team’s work was on privately owned commercial buildings and private street assets, including 10 per cent from private residential properties and 12 per cent from Council-owned assets.
The amount of collected dumped rubbish has also increased significantly from 2019, with 3,473 tonnes collected this year alone.
This significant work follows a decision to help fast-track graffiti removal from private properties, enabling Council to step in to support property owners with their own graffiti removal where possible.
Property owners are encouraged to play their part by cleaning their assets and contacting Council if they need assistance, while residents and visitors can report graffiti using QR codes around the city.
Quotes attributable to Lord Mayor Sally Capp
“For the first time, we’re proactively rolling out our Rapid Response Clean Team outside the CBD to keep even more neighbourhoods clean from graffiti.”
“Over the next 12 months, we’ll continue to do everything we can to keep our city clean and safe – moving faster to remove graffiti and targeting higher risk locations.”
“We’re building on the success of the Graffiti Blitz – delivering a new plan to crack down further on repeat offenders, while making it easier to report graffiti across our neighbourhoods.”
“We’re scrubbing the city clean like never before – we’ve more than tripled the amount of graffiti cleaned every month since the start of the pandemic and seen graffiti reporting double in this time.”
Quotes attributable to Deputy portfolio lead for City Transport, Infrastructure and Operations Davydd Griffiths
“Our Rapid Response Clean Team has done a remarkable job to date – and we’re making sure we continue to improve graffiti prevention measures and clear more waste from our streets.”
“A big thanks to those who have reported graffiti through our QR codes. This joint effort is helping to keep our streets clean for residents, businesses and visitors.”
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