ANGRY residents have had enough of graffiti and have taken matters into their own hands.

Members of the North Laine Community Association in Brighton have resorted to jetwashing walls to remove tags.

Handyman John Goodes and residents Gareth Davies and Kathryn Cheston worked for four hours to scrub the Prince Regent swimming pool building.

John said: “It’ll take another going over to fully get rid of it.

“But we’ve made a start and it’s miles better.”

Others have criticised Brighton and Hove City Council’s attempts at tackling graffiti.

Jeremy Mustoe, chairman of the Brighton Society heritage group, said the whole city has a become a “hotspot” for taggers.

He said the city council’s proposal to use graffiti-resistant paint on buildings was “clearly not a practical solution”.

He said: “The idea of using graffiti-resistant surfaces to eradicate all graffiti in the city is going to require hundreds of litres of paint.”

Mr Mustoe rubbished proposals by councillors to require businesses to remove graffiti or risk fines.

He cited Waitrose in Western Road as an example of the graffiti problem in Brighton.

The shop spent about £6,000 last year on washing graffiti off its walls but still faces issues with taggers.

Mr Mustoe said: “the suggestion that quickly removing graffiti stops the return of the vandals clearly fails to understand the vandal’s mindset.

“Even though Waitrose quickly clean off the graffiti, it does not solve their problem.

“The freshly painted or cleaned wall simply gives the graffiti vandal another blank canvas.”

Mr Mustoe claimed educating shop owners on the sale of spray cans to under-16s would not address the problem.

“A possible scenario might be that a member of a graffiti crew could give the aerosol paint to an unskilled, new or inexperienced graffiti artist or writer,” he said.

But a city council spokesman said Government funding cuts meant it has

limited resources to tackle graffiti.

He said: “The strategy and plans we have are detailed and innovative and will help counter the worst excesses of graffiti.

“We aim to remove offensive graffiti within 24 hours of it being reported to us.”