Council orders pensioners to clean up graffiti or face £1,000 fines

So says an article in today’s ‘Telegraph‘ newspaper.   This really is local authority officialdom gone mad.  Let’s hope common sense prevails.  Or that some good Samaritans get together and deal with the problem gratis!  Britain’s pensioners should not be treated in this way!

Pensioners whose homes were vandalised with graffiti have been threatened with fines of up to £1,000 if they do not have it cleaned up.

Elderly residents were already upset after the vandals sprayed paint over the wooden fences separating their homes from a path running behind their back gardens.

But highways staff in Prestwich near Manchester sent them stern warning letters giving them 21 days to remove the graffiti or face court under local authority planning rules.

If convicted they could face a maximum fine of £1,000.

Opposition councillors have condemned the warning letters which locals said “scared the wits” out of the elderly residents and were usually only reserved for developers and large landowners.

Councillor Vic D’Albert, a local liberal democrat who is representing the group, said: “This is one of the most shocking instances I have seen as a councillor.

“An elderly woman who passed this letter onto me was extremely distressed in case she should be fined or somehow forced to clean the mess up herself at great cost to herself.

“She was virtually in tears - you can imagine the distress it causes a woman living on her own to get a letter saying you are not maintaining your property properly.

“It’s no way to treat people, especially our senior citizens. The council should put more effort into finding ways of supporting people who are victims rather that threatening to punish them further.

“Its all a big mess and no-one knows what is happening. The way the council has spoken to people and the way they have hit the victims, instead of the vandals, is not right.”

Councillor Wayne Campbell, Bury’s Labour leader, said: “It is a disgrace. There are plenty of council buildings covered in graffiti - perhaps they should start closer to home before targeting victims of crime.”

Conservative run Bury Metropolitan borough council sent out a number of letters which quoted a law that is used against major landowners who continually refuse to clean up their land.

At least three pensioners receiving the letters are aged over 70 and, in some cases, they are physically unable to remove the graffiti. The council which cited section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act, also sent letters to a British Legion centre and a church.

One of the pensioners, who do not wish to be named, said: “They should clean up their own problems instead of having a go at us. Why don’t they clean their property such as lamp posts, instead of getting someone else to clean someone else’s crime up.

“It should be the vandals that should be cleaning it up, not the pensioners.”

Local politicians and residents association condemned the heavy-handedness of the council.

Carran O’Grady, the co-ordinator of Prestwich Area Partnership, which has special kits available to help clean graffiti said the council should work with residents rather than threaten them.

“That would be a better way to approach it rather than scaring the wits out of people,” she said.

A Bury Council spokesman apologised for the scare tactics but said the graffiti still had to be cleaned.

“If people want to have a better quality of life, they must take responsibility for their community,” he said.