Why graffiti is costing Preston City Council £73k this month
It will cost Preston City Council £73,000 to buy the new piece of kit it needs to help keep the streets free from graffiti.
The authority says it is no longer “cost effective” to operarte its current graffiti removal vehicle - and that it is overdue for replacement.
A town hall report reveals that officers have authorised the purchase of a new piece of equipment that will come with a hot pressure washer to blast away anything unlawfully emblazoned across the city’s buildings and public spaces.
While the change will mean the city council has a more reliable vehicle at its disposal - which is less likely to need regular repairs - the authority told the Lancashire Post that it would appeal to anyone tempted to graffiti in Preston to think about the damage it causes and the cost to the public course of cleaning it up.
The cash for the new vehicle is coming from a capital funding pot set aside by the council in 2021 for the replacement of its fleet vehicles across a five-year period.
The authority priced up an electric version of the graffiti removal van - which would have been £27,000 more expensive - but does not yet have the charging infrastructure that would be required to keep it on the road.
It would have cost an estimated £500,000 to install the substitution that would be needed - leading the authority to plump for the diesel option, which the report states “emits lower emissions than the current vehicle” and is compliant with the most recent European diesel emission standards.