THE war on graffiti in York has been stepped up, after a number of utility firms joined forces with council chiefs.

Several local companies have teamed up with City of York Council and agreed to remove offensive graffiti or fly-posting from their property within 48 hours.

Liz Levett, the council's street environment manager, said: "We're working with landowners, occupiers and operators to ensure graffiti and fly-posting is removed as quickly as possible without needing to issue formal legal notices.

"We have met with a number of organisations, including Network Rail, Yorkshire Water, British Telecommunications and NTL, and the response has been very positive.

"We're working with them to find cost-effective ways of cleaning up graffiti and fly-posting and, though it's early days, we hope that by working together we will be able to tackle problems quickly and effectively."

Over the past month, the council's neighbourhood services team has been blitzing graffiti hotspots, in an attempt to improve the appearance of York's streets.

The project is the third campaign of the council's York Neighbourhood Pride scheme, which focuses on issues that concern residents, such as the look of their local environment and feeling safe.

The council has been boosted by new powers brought in to deal with graffiti and fly-posting under the Clean Neighbourhoods And Environment Act 2005.

The powers enable local authorities to force landowners or occupiers of property, street furniture or land, to remove graffiti and fly-posting that is "detrimental to the amenity of the area, or is offensive".

The council launched its 12 months of neighbourhood pride campaigns in November, and graffiti is the third problem to be tackled.

According to the council's website, February to mid-March will see a spring-clean of the city, followed by a clampdown on dog fouling in May.

In June and July, the council will be trying to discourage litter louts, and encourage people to create floral displays.

There will then be a campaign to promote awareness around personal safety in the autumn.

On graffiti, the website states: "Graffiti is a year-round problem, but we hope that by really blitzing the affected areas over the next month, we can make a real difference.

"Evidence suggests that graffiti encourages other forms of antisocial behaviour, so it's really important that we tackle problem areas as quickly as possible."

Any organisations that want to find out more about graffiti or fly-posting removal should email liz.levett@york.gov.uk or phone 01904 551825.