A council has received a 'big spike' in graffiti complaints – in response to England flags being painted on roundabouts and zebra crossings.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is taking too long to remove the offensive or non-offensive graffiti.

The issue was raised at the latest meeting of the housing, regeneration and operations overview and scrutiny committee.

Carol Gibbs, director of housing, development and growth, told the committee: "We have not been able to respond to the graffiti as quickly as we wanted to.

"Please be aware that the reporting of graffiti was all around the painting of England flags across a number of areas. So what happened was literally overnight or a few nights we saw that huge spike.

"The only way we could report that was through the graffiti page. That's why there has been a big spike in that."

The England flag craze swept through Stoke-on-Trent in late August. Graffiti clean-up data for July to September has yet to be disclosed by the council.

But figures for April to June show the number of complaints was already rising – compared to the same period a year earlier.

Figures show the council received 54 complaints about offensive graffiti and 63 complaints about non-offensive graffiti between April and June 2024.

It saw the council take on average 10.6 days to remove offensive and 10.5 non-offensive graffiti over that period.

But that shot up to 15.1 days for non-offensive graffiti and 15.7 days for offensive graffiti between April and June this year. The council received 57 complaints about offensive graffiti and 63 complaints about non-offensive graffiti.

The April to June delay has been blamed on staff absences and a focus on removing fly-tipping.