BRIGHTON and Hove City Council has declared that spray painting on buildings and other property is a blight and an eyesore, and Sussex Police are supporting the development of a strategy to deal with it.

A good starting point for that line of attack would be to stop talking about street art and graffiti as though they are totally different forms of behaviour; one being acceptable and the other frowned upon.

After all, who decides what is OK and what is not? What offends and what does not? What beautifies the city and what defaces it?

The truth is that it is all down to the eye of the beholder and I am sure that both the “artists” and the “taggers” believe that their form of spraying belongs, as one Argus reader described it online, as “being a strong part of Brighton’s identity and history”.

Until both the council and the police bring in a policy of zero tolerance of anyone defacing both public and private buildings and property this scourge will go on and £200 of public money a day will continue to be spent on trying to remove it, and more and more visitors and tourists will be put off making a return to a city that is fast becoming a complete and utter mess.

Eric Waters, Lancing