Letter: ​The city centre is blighted with graffiti tagging

Since the former John Lewis closed it has been covered with graffiti and flyposting. Sheffield Council (SCC) pay a compulsory Sheffield Business Improvement District (BID) Levy of £12,000 per annum for this building. Sheffield BID was set up in 2015 to provide services and projects within the old inner city ring road to improve the city centre street scene, increase footfall and dwell time. It is a not for profit organisation and all city centre businesses, offices, car parks, education buildings and so on who pay business rates of £40,000 or over have to pay a levy.
By Bridget Ingle
Published 30th Jun 2023, 06:56 GMT
Updated 30th Jun 2023, 06:57 GMT
Bridget Ingle shared this example of graffiti in Sheffield city centre, where she says street cleansing is much worse than in Leeds city centreBridget Ingle shared this example of graffiti in Sheffield city centre, where she says street cleansing is much worse than in Leeds city centre
Bridget Ingle shared this example of graffiti in Sheffield city centre, where she says street cleansing is much worse than in Leeds city centre

The BID levy is collected by (SCC) on top of the business rates. And while an SCC councillor sits on the BID board of voluntary directors, it is an independent organisation. SCC have a legal agreement over minimum service standards and collection of the levy, but they have no control over its activities.

Number one in the BID three core programme areas is to make Sheffield City Centre welcoming, clean and safe. Removal of graffiti and fly posting is included in the BID levy charge. But when you look around Sheffield City Centre it is blighted with graffiti tagging and fly posting from Haymarket to the bottom of The Moor and everywhere in between. Just about every building is affected. Sheffield is regularly called a dump because of the poor street scene and it is mainly Sheffield BID who are responsible for cleaning it.

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I live next door to the former John Lewis building and despite reporting the building for cleaning very little got done. Last October I asked BID to supply me with graffiti remover and paint so I could clean and paint the building myself. If they could not do it, I would. They refused. I carried on reporting it and made formal complaints to both Sheffield BID and SCC. Still nothing happened.

Bridget Ingle shared this example of graffiti in Sheffield city centre, where she says street cleansing is much worse than in Leeds city centreBridget Ingle shared this example of graffiti in Sheffield city centre, where she says street cleansing is much worse than in Leeds city centre
Bridget Ingle shared this example of graffiti in Sheffield city centre, where she says street cleansing is much worse than in Leeds city centre

This weekend at my own expense I spent six hours removing fly posting, graffiti tagging and painting out the tags. There are still tags on Burgess St Belgian tiles.

During 2022 to 2023 Sheffield BID collected £665,900 from Sheffield organisations. SCC paid BID a total of £41,250 of public money in levy charges for the buildings they are responsible for. I have yet to speak to any business owner with graffiti and fly posting on their building that thinks Sheffield BID is doing a good job.

Regardless of what BID say in their annual report, their inability to keep the former John Lewis building clean for £12,000 per year clearly demonstrates they are not good value for public money. Neither are they delivering on their core programme of keeping Sheffield City Centre welcoming, clean and safe.

Bridget Ingle

Cross Burgess St, Sheffield, S1

Related topics:BIDSheffieldJohn LewisBusiness Improvement DistrictSheffield Council