Your Neighbourhood 

Local schools help neighbourhood tackle graffiti – Milton Keynes

08 June 2009, 12:01 pm

Two local schools have been working with local neighbourhood officers and the Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) in Campbell Park East to help tackle graffiti and vandalism.

Graffiti and vandalism were identified by local residents in Campbell Park East as their second top priority, and the NAG, which includes members of local agencies, emergency services and residents, has been working to tackle it.

This has included looking at ways to educate people about the damage graffiti and vandalism cause and explaining that it is against the law.

It was decided that quicker clean-up, through faster reporting of any graffiti, would improve the area and so there was a need to inform people of how to correctly report it.

One initiative devised by the NAG was to work with two local schools, Willen Primary and Orchard School to raise the awareness of the issue, educating the children about the problem and consequences it has on local residents.

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), along with the Safer Community wardens, carried out a number of assemblies to explain the problem. To get the young people involved in helping the NAG to tackle the problem, they also devised a poster competition for them to take part in.

The posters, designed by the children, will inform people how to report graffiti and vandalism and will also help to pass on the anti-graffiti/vandalism message to the wider public and deter people from causing graffiti or vandalism in the local area.

The NAG received 130 entries and the overall winning poster will be displayed throughout the neighbourhood, which will hopefully help reduce graffiti and vandalism.

All of the winners were presented with gift vouchers and the overall winning poster, by Goyanu Ketheeswaran, aged 10, from Orchard School, was displayed for the first time today (8/6). Representatives from the NAG, including the local PCSOs, also attended the award presentation.

Neighbourhood Specialist Officer PC Jason Rowe said: “This was an excellent opportunity for children to get involved and help us tackle the neighbourhood’s priority of graffiti and vandalism.

“We received an excellent response from the children and we have been able to educate them about graffiti, vandalism and the problems it can cause. By getting the children involved, and the winning poster on display around the neighbourhood, it will hopefully act as a deterrent to would-be graffiti artists or vandals and educate the local people about the problem and how to report it more efficiently.

“We hope this is one step closer to resolving this priority for the area and we will put an end to graffiti and vandalism in Campbell Park East.”

Campbell Park East NAG Chair, Teresa Ennew, said: “I would like to thank everyone involved in this project, especially the pupils of both schools for their fantastic response to this very important issue, which will hopefully help towards keeping Campbell Park East a nicer place to live.”

ENDS

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