Auckland Council’s Community Safety Forum has established a region-wide taskforce to tackle graffiti vandalism with local boards pivotal to its success.

Chairman George Wood, a former police area commander, says the team will work with key partners - including police and local boards – to develop a co-ordinated Auckland response to the issue.

“We’ve got a great opportunity here to achieve a consistent approach to dealing with this scourge,” said the three-term North Shore mayor who spent much of December and January visiting other parts of Auckland to see for himself ‘tagged’ territories.

Mayor Len Brown asked his northern colleague to chair the forum last November and announced in January his intention to address graffiti vandalism as one of the mayor’s 100 projects within the first 100 days of the new council.

Councillor Wood said the regional plan and related programme would build on the work of the Auckland Region Graffiti Free Project [ARGF] over the past three years.

“The project reviewed graffiti management best practice nationally and internationally. We reviewed this report at our meeting yesterday [9 February] and the taskforce’s starting point will be the robust recommendations presented to us.”

George Wood said the involvement of local boards was essential to the regional response.
Chair of the Kaipatiki Local Board Lindsay Waugh addressed the forum meeting, telling councillors about her own community’s hands-on approach to graffiti eradication.

“Graffiti removal has been managed through the Birkenhead Northcote Community Facilities Trust which has established excellent networks for reporting graffiti and working with other agencies at a community level. We take pride in the high standard of the work carried out on our behalf.

“The Kaipatiki Local Board believes this successful community development model is both effective and economic. The regional taskforce can learn much from this approach and apply its success elsewhere,” Mrs Waugh said.

As chairman of the biggest [by population] of all Auckland’s 21 local boards, Howick’s Michael Williams welcomed the forum’s decision.

“We're right behind George on this initiative. The people of Howick have great pride in our environment and take the issue of graffiti very seriously."