City of York Council is joining forces with local utility companies in the fight against graffiti.

The authority's Street Environment team is forging new and stronger links with local companies in response to new powers that have been brought in to deal with graffiti and fly posting under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. The new powers enable local authorities to force land owners or occupiers of property, street furniture or land, to remove graffiti and fly posting that is 'detrimental to the amenity of the area, or is offensive'.

Local companies have already agreed to remove any offensive graffiti or fly posting from their property within two working days.

Liz Levett, the council's Street Environment manager, said; "We're working with landowners, occupiers and operators to ensure that graffiti and fly posting is removed as quickly as possible without needing to issue formal legal notices. We have met with a number of organisations, including Network Rail, Yorkshire Water, British Telecommunications and NTL, and the response has been very positive.

"We're working with them to find cost effective ways of cleaning up graffiti and fly posting and though it's early days, we hope that by working together we will be able to tackle problems quickly and effectively."

City of York Council's Neighbourhood Services team has been blitzing graffiti hotspots throughout January in a bid to improve the appearance of the city's streets.

The project is the third campaign of the council's York Neighbourhood Pride scheme, which aims to build on the work of York Pride. It focuses on issues that concern residents, such as the look of their local environment and feeling safe.

Any organisations wanting to find out more about graffiti or fly posting removal should contact Liz Levett on 01904 551825 or email liz.levett@york.gov.uk