By Tevye Markson, local democracy reporter
GRAFFITI and street art will come under new scrutiny in Reading for its artistic impact.Reading Borough Council has agreed to create a new Street Art Advisory Panel to “look at the finer details” of street art.
The decision was made by RBC’s Housing, Neighbourhoods and Leisure committee, which has been reflecting on street art since a Banksy mural appeared in the town.
Cllr Karen Rowland, lead member for culture, heritage and recreation, said the Banksy piece “really affected the way we looked and thought about street art in this town”.
“On the one hand we have graffiti that can be detrimental to a building, and the community,” she said. “Then we have got street art which can actually uplift an area and community.
“Since Mr Banksy came to this town, Reading has thought a lot about street art and graffiti.
“Art needs to live and thrive and cannot be nor should be choked. It is with this spirit that we are establishing a Street Art Advisory Panel to look at the positives street art has had on Reading and look at the finer details.
“It is really exciting the potential we have for street art in the town. I hope the advisory panel will help to make sure the continued explosion of street art is everything we want it to be.”
Cllr Clarence Mitchell asked if the panel would be able to make rapid decisions to protect art, which a council officer confirmed it would.
The Reading Gaol Banksy piece was vandalised two weeks after it appeared on the prison walls, with Team Robbo sprayed over the typewriter, an allusion to an old rivalry with another street artist.
However less appealing spray paint will be removed.
Graffiti will be targeted and removed from the town’s walls more actively.
Cllr Adele Barnett-Ward, lead member for neighbourhoods and communities, said the issue of private properties being overrun by graffiti had been pointed out by her colleague, Cllr Liam Challenger.
She said: “Tenanted buildings were becoming hotspots. There was not enough money to tackle it.
“This is going to make a real impact on how our town looks, having a cleaner, safer, greener Reading with fewer scribbles in it.”
