Hull BID’s street cleaning teams are making a difference according to figures for the last two years.

During 2010 they dealt with a total of 2,365 incidents of cleaning graffiti, removing fly-posts and painting unsightly areas. In 2009 the total was 3,920.

The team also deals with calls from businesses to clear up unpleasant mess, and recently earned a testimonial from Fiona Wicks, Project Co-ordinator at Rixon Matthews Appleyard financial services in Lowgate.

“There was a mess in an alleyway near our offices so I reported it to Hull BID and was delighted with how quickly it was cleaned up,” said Fiona.

“I’ve called two or three times to get things cleaned up and on one occasion to get a needle removed from the alleyway. I’ve always been impressed with the response.”

Kathryn Shillito, Hull BID City Centre Manager, said: “Cleaning work like the incident in Lowgate is relatively rare but we always respond as quickly as we can and we know the businesses appreciate that. 

“With graffiti, painting and flyers our team log every incident they deal with, and many of the problems are resolved even before people become aware of them.”

During 2009 the team cleaned 2,299 graffiti tags compared with 1,449 in 2010 and the number of fly-posting sites cleaned up was down from 125 to 79.

“We are seeing a decline in graffiti, which is sually removed very early in the morning, before workers have even arrived at their shops or offices,” said Kathryn.

“But if we do get a call about something we haven’t seen ourselves then we usually deal with it very quickly before it becomes a major problem for the business concerned.

“The figures show Hull BID is keeping on top of the problem. We hope the graffiti taggers will realise sooner rather than later that their efforts are a waste of time because we will wipe them out within 24 hours.”