Conference on combating graffiti

The city council spent £500,000 on removing graffiti last year

Anti-graffiti experts from around the world have come to Nottingham to share ideas on tackling the problem.

The Anti-Graffiti Association's annual conference is being held from 14-15 May. Talks will include preventing graffiti and the cost of removing it.

Nottingham City Council said it spent £500,000 last year to remove 50,000 sq m of graffiti.

They said paints bought from abroad by graffiti artists are getting tougher and more expensive to remove.

Alan Mather, the council's graffiti supervisor, said: "If we could catch them, we could stop them. But it is a constant battle here, because as soon as we clean it up, they come back and put it back."

The taggers go on the internet and get these products from abroad. They are designed to stick and stay Alan Mather, Nottingham City Council

Alan Wakelin, from Dacralyte, a company that produces anti-graffiti paint and cleaning gels, is on the board of The Anti-Graffiti Association.

He said: "What we are aiming to do is show the delegates that are attending this conference ways of trying to combat graffiti and make the surface more clean."

Both Mr Mather and Mr Wakelin said graffiti artists were increasingly buying more resilient paints.

"The taggers go on the internet and get these products from abroad. They are designed to stick and stay. So it's very difficult to remove them... because the materials that we are having to buy are getting as expensive as the materials that they are using to put them on," Mr Mather said.

Mr Wakelin added that although Dacralyte provides graffiti coatings, they do not always work 100% of the time.