Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to require local highway authorities to remove (a) racist and (b) other offensive graffiti from structures adjacent to the public highway without the authority of the owner.

Local highway authorities are responsible for maintaining the highway. This includes the removal of graffiti from publicly owned highway assets, such as bridges, traffic signs, and street furniture, as well as council-owned and other public buildings. The Department has no plans to extend this requirement to privately owned structures adjacent to the highway.

However, we do expect private owners of structures to act to remove offensive graffiti. If graffiti or flyposting is on private property, councils can issue a Defacement Removal Notice to the property owner, which requires them to remove the graffiti within 28 days.