Subways, bridges and underpasses are a common breeding ground for graffiti. Due to their concealed nature these areas inevitably attract youths who loiter around with nothing better to do than scrawl on walls and spray their graffiti tags on to anything that's not moving. This creates a constant battle for graffiti removal professionals and council graffiti removal teams who week in week out find they are cleaning, repainting or in worse case rebuilding these structures over and over again.

Stockport is no different to anywhere else in the UK with this problem but when Neighbourhood Renewal Development Officer - Catherine Foy decided to take charge of one of these subways she decided enough was enough.

Essentially three anti graffiti options presented themselves where subways are concerned;

1. Repaint the subway every time the graffiti gets "too much". This almost always works out to be the least cost effective solution since subway or bridge closures are a very costly affair and constantly throwing paint at walls can lead to a whole new set of problems with paint adhesion and loading issues. In most cases this expense inevitably leads to subways becoming completely blathered in graffiti before any redecoration takes place and this gives the impression that the council or highway authority does not care.

2. Paint over graffiti tags as soon as they appear but leave the rest. Although this is slightly cheaper that option one, it is still far from ideal. Constant "patch" redecoration will always lead to the dreaded "patchwork quilt" appearance on walls where different shades are inevitably used to cover up irremovable graffiti or repaint damaged areas. This again leads to tatty looking subways and bridges and is not cost effective.

3. Choose to redecorate the subway once and protect your efforts with a good quality, long life graffiti resistant coating. Although this option may initially be slightly more expensive it is always the cheapest option in the long run. Once a good quality anti graffiti coating is in place walls can be scrubbed, washed and wiped without damage occurring to the underlying paintwork and the subway, bridge or underpass never falls in to disrepair. If the correct anti graffiti coating is chosen, cleaning can even be outsourced to a community or a youth group, which takes some of the pressure off already overstretched graffiti removal teams.

Catherin Foy - Neighbourhood Renewal Development Officer for Stockport went for option three and the results speak for themselves. 12 months on the walls of the subway look as clean and as freshly painted as the day the anti graffiti coating was applied. Local youth groups have assisted in keeping the subway walls clean and graffiti removal takes a fraction of the time it used to. Catherine's efforts have ensured this Stockport subway stays clean for year to come without costing the earth.