St Mathews Walsall
Walsall
West Midlands
Staffordshire

Your on-line web guide to St Mathews Walsall

Free graffiti removal service from st Mathews area private properties by walsall council. A new initiative to remove graffiti without charge from privately owned residential properties has been launched by Walsall Council's Street Pride team subject to the owners signing disclaimers. Graffiti is one of the issues being targeted by the council as part of the Wipe It Out section of its ongoing Cracking Environmental Crime campaign. Between January and December 2009 180 reports were received of graffiti and 198 removals took place. Previously the Street Pride team was only able to remove graffiti for free from publicly owned land, street furniture and buildings. It is hoped the new approach will help improve the overall appearance of Walsall borough and encourage more people to report graffiti. The scheme will initially run on a six month trial basis upto approx December 2010 and if successful could be made permanent. Andy Ody, Street Pride Grounds Manager, said: "Traditionally people tend not to report graffiti and instead just accept it as part of the street scene. "Probably the one area which causes real concern to people is graffiti appearing on private properties. In the past we have been able to remove this but only at a charge. Service standards set by the council relating to publicly owned land, street furniture and buildings outline racist and offensive graffiti will be removed within 24 hours and the remainder as quickly as possible. Graffiti in parks will often by removed by park rangers with the more difficult cases referred on to Street Pride. On the spot fines of £80 can be handed out to anyone caught spraying graffiti. If a prosecution is pursued through the courts, the maximum punishment available is a 10 year prison sentence if the case is sent to crown court. Graffiti can be reported to Walsall Council on 01922 653344 or by e-mailing streetprideemail@walsall.gov.uk

Major initiative launched in St Mathews Walsall, may revolutionise Walsall Council methods of providing services to residents. The working smarter project will see Walsall Council take a forensic root and branch look at how local residents are offered services such as graffiti removal, rubbish collection and waiting times for vulnerable adults who need help. Senior officers will leave their desks and go back to the frontline as part of the project. For the next five weeks they will be joining forces with elected members to focus on the St Matthews ward. By looking at one ward lessons can be learned that could be rolled out across Walsall borough Council. The services review will see council officers on the ground experiencing for themselves any barriers people come up against so they can see if they can be made simpler. As part of the review, anti-social behaviour and how to tackle it will be looked at after it has emerged as a key problem for residents. The condition of streets will also be examined as part of the review with the council looking at how it deals with waste, litter and grafitti as part of a basket of services. Walsall Social services for adults, will also be looked at with the council seeing how it can offer better support for older vulnerable residents. How vulnerable children are helped will also be looked as part of the review together with buildings that may pose problems. Major savings could be secured through the process in the St Matthews ward alone, which may set standards to adopt accross Walsall Borough. The review will see the views of residents canvassed as well as partners such as the NHS, West Midlands Police, whg and other organisations. The St Matthews ward includes Walsall town centre as well as surrounding communities including Caldmore and the Butts.