Tories stop graffiti clean-up 3/2/00 The Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Kingston Council, Councillor Derek Osbourne, has criticised the Conservatives for not spending all of the graffiti budget at a time when complaints from residents across the Borough are at their highest. The growing problems of graffiti were first recognised by the Liberal Democrats during their Administration when they successfully introduced a budget to tackle the problems. In contrast, however, during the recent Conservative Administration's budget moratorium, (introduced to deal with their current £1.5million Council overspend) they put a stop on spending to remove graffiti. The Tory cut has taken away over one third of the budget used to remove graffiti and has been introduced when graffiti across the Borough is spreading at an alarming rate. The Council's Highway Services Department has received the second highest number of calls of complaint after abandoned cars and residents currently calling the Council's advertised hotline service to complain about graffiti are referred to a private contractor. Commenting on the lack of graffiti removal, Councillor Derek Osbourne said, "It's obvious to residents across the Borough that the Council is not even scratching at the surface of the problems and graffiti removal is a service which residents expect to be delivered. Whilst the Tories have overspent the Council budget by £1.5 million and had to introduce a pause in council spending they have not given any political guidance on priorities which has led to a third of the graffiti budget not being spent. I am appalled at their constant hypocrisy of being portrayed in the press sanctimoniously taking the credit for being concerned about graffiti when in reality they have done nothing."
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