MP Risks Losing Youth Tag With Graffiti Dismissal

It seems strange that an MP (and before that a councillor) who champions many policies that impact young people should be so dismissive of a small-scale Parish decision on graffiti walls.

In his Swindon Advertiser column of the 21st of October (yes, I'm a little behind!) Mr. Tomlinson dismisses the idea of legal graffiti walls since they didn't work at Mannington in 2001.

Feedback to Swindon Centric from someone who used them was that the structures weren't the best to use as a canvas, being slatted and at an angle. The site itself, immediately to the South West of where the John Lewis at Home store is now, between the Mannington Retail Park and railway line, allowed people to joyride onto it, resulting in a car being burnt out, not helping anyone.

The majority of legal graffiti sites tend to be in urban areas, where people will actually see the work produced. If you're going to add criminal connotations to an activity, shove it away where no-one will see it and you're halfway there.

Funny how in his column Mr. Tomlinson did not mention his once frequently-lauded achievement whilst in council office, that the free graffiti removal service offered by Swindon Borough Council was his idea (diverting money from a non-needed I.T budget if memory serves).

Swindon Centric Says ; How much of that money could be saved by having even a small amount of tags diverted to a legal graffiti wall? This is the same MP who is lobbying for children to be taught sound financial management. Oh dear.