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Graffiti surge pushes NPDC’s clean-up budget

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PUBLISHED: 22 JUN 2026
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A spate of graffiti is hitting public toilets around New Plymouths’ CBD, and it’s putting pressure on NPDC’s removal budget.

Eighty incidents last month (May) year is almost double the number of clean-ups in the same month last year, says Manager Parks and Open Spaces Conrad Pattison.

“We’ve spent about $90,000 on graffiti clean-up so far this financial year, with a month still to go,” he says. “That’s almost double our $50,000 budget and doesn’t even include the cost of staff time.

“The public really appreciate how quickly our team removes damage like this but because we’re facing so much more than usual, we end up not spending money elsewhere as we had planned, such as for streetscape improvements and maintenance.

“The graffiti is just so pointless, especially as we make sure it’s gone again quickly.”

May’s 80 incidents compare with 58 in April and 55 March. In May last year, NPDC responded to 35 graffiti reports.

“We don’t know for certain why there’s been a surge in graffiti but we’re hearing anecdotally that there are more people milling about in the CBD than usual,” says Conrad.

Most of the reports of graffiti come from the public through the Antenno app and from NPDC’s toilet block cleaners.

This is just one of a recent spate of damage caused to facilities in the district’s public spaces.

Just last week the slide in Pukekura Park was set alight and will need to be replaced and at the weekend the toilet on the Bellringer Pavillion had the door kicked in and damage caused in inside.

A replacement part for the slide, which costs about $8000, has been ordered.

At a glance:

  • NPDC maintains more than 60 public toilets around the district.
  • The Council removes any graffiti that can be seen from a public space – such as a road, reserve, walkway or car park – regardless of whether the graffiti is on public or private property. 

 

Caption: New Plymouth’s Wind Wand Car Park toilet block was one of the sites hit by graffiti in May.

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Page last updated: 12:13pm Mon 22 June 2026

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