A councillor has warned that a “scourge of graffiti” blighting towns across the borough must not be forgotten as Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Council moves to promote street art on utility boxes and cabinets.
At the August 24 monthly meeting, council members backed – unanimously – a motion from Alliance councillor Jessica Johnston to explore a new “Street Cabinet Artwork Project” across ABC’s towns and villages.
But while there was strong support for colourful, community‑led artwork, councillors repeatedly stressed that any scheme must go hand‑in‑hand with a much tougher approach to illegal tagging, which has left more than 250 spray‑painted “tags” across Portadown, Craigavon and Lurgan alone.
Portadown DUP Councillor Kyle Moutray said graffiti remained one of the biggest complaints he received from ratepayers.
“Back in 2024, I brought a motion to this council on addressing the scourge of graffiti across our borough,” he told the chamber.
“At that time, a council survey identified that there were over 250 of these tags across Portadown, Craigavon and Lurgan alone. That shows the scale of the problem.
“The majority of these were on utility boxes and DfI road signs, and unfortunately neither DfI nor the telecommunications companies that own these utility boxes are really forthcoming when it comes to cleaning them.
“Two years on from that motion, I have to say I’ve not seen any real noticeable improvement, and it continues to be one of the top problems that constituents bring to me.”
He pointed to a July clean‑up by Portadown Youth Providers Forum at Bann Bridge – “an area of natural beauty… blighted with graffiti for a long time”.
“They came together and made a great improvement to the area. Then I visited a month later and it was back to square one, with graffiti everywhere again, unfortunately. That shows the problem at hand there,” he said.
“So yes, I welcome the idea of positive street art. I think it’s a good idea. But I would like to see the same level of ambition applied when it comes to removing graffiti across the borough and cleaning up our town centres.
“Ratepayers… want cleaner towns and villages. They want graffiti removed, and they want the council to take meaningful action when it comes to those who take part in graffiti and those who take part in fly‑tipping and things like that.”
Cllr Johnston’s motion notes both “the transformative benefits” of street art – including painted utility boxes – and the “frustration and concern that graffiti, such as tagging, can cause and the subsequent costs of removal”.
It commits the council to explore a Street Cabinet Artwork Project, looking at permissions, funding and partnerships with local artists, community groups and youth organisations to design future artwork.
“This motion is about exploring the potential for this council to set up a Street Cabinet Artwork Project that would bring people of all ages and backgrounds together,” the Lagan River Alliance councillor said.
She pointed to successful schemes in other areas – Ards and North Down’s “Creative Cabinets” and Belfast City Council’s “Belfast Canvas”, which has seen around 110 cabinets transformed since 2019.
“Those painted street cabinets have brought a sense of civic pride to these council areas and have transformed and brightened public spaces in their towns while showcasing local heritage,” she said.
“We have talked at length in this chamber about graffiti in our streets and the cost to ratepayers of removing it, so we could have the chance to create safe, legal and positive opportunities for people to contribute to local artwork with a scheme like this.”
She added that council’s own Policing and Community Safety Partnership had already trialled small‑scale youth art projects as a way to tackle problem graffiti, “and they’ve worked well”.
Alliance colleague Cllr Joy Ferguson (Banbridge) seconded the motion.
She said the project would fit both rural and urban settings and “bring added vibrancy and animation to our public spaces, and support artistic partnerships to transform boxes that are currently utilitarian, functional and a little bit boring into a community‑led art project that will enhance civic pride”.
Sinn Féin’s Cllr Liam Mackle (Lurgan) backed the idea but proposed a small amendment to ensure a detailed report comes back to committee before anything is rolled out.
“There’s a lot in the motion and I think members need to really think it through,” he said.
“There are different areas, town centres and rural areas where it may have different impacts… while I largely welcome it, there’s a lot more to be teased out in respect of it.”
SDLP councillor Thomas O’Hanlon (Armagh) supported that amendment, stressing the need for full community consultation.
“I don’t believe that every area would necessarily want this type of artwork,” he said, adding that a previous attempt by the council “didn’t work”.
“I’m happy for that exploratory work to happen and for a paper to be brought back for members’ consideration.”
DUP Alderman Paul Greenfield (Banbridge) warned that any new scheme must include a maintenance plan, citing earlier art projects in Banbridge town centre.
“We did get some money and we’ve done some great artwork in Banbridge, but some of it is now starting to look very shabby,” he said.
“We have fences painted and murals halfway down the main street that, after spending significant amounts of money, look a bit shabby… quite a lot of the artwork is now starting to flake off the sides of buildings.
“We don’t seem to have any more funding for that, and we just don’t want this sort of thing to start across all the pillar boxes… But I think the sentiments of it are good and, if it can be worked out, I’d be fairly supportive of it.”
‘Practical solutions’ to graffiti
Closing the debate, Cllr Johnston welcomed the unanimous backing – including the amendment to bring a detailed report through committee.
“I completely agree with Cllr Moutray’s points on graffiti removal. That is important. The sentiment of the motion is to try and find practical solutions to graffiti, and hopefully we can work through that,” she said.
“I know from conversations with community groups in my own DEA that they’d be keen to see a scheme like this set up and have indeed looked into ways that they might be able to do it themselves.
“Having that council support in leading the scheme from the front is vital for them… I look forward to seeing the development of this scheme.”
Officers will now prepare a report on how a Street Cabinet Artwork Project might operate in practice – including funding, permissions, community consultation, maintenance and how it will sit alongside tougher efforts to remove illegal graffiti – before it returns to the relevant committee for further consideration.
