Melbourne council to run "graffiti tours" as part of a bold plan to stop illegal street art

An inner-city local council in Melbourne has outlined a bold plan to combat problem graffiti by offering tours of council-approved graffiti sites.

The City of Yarra, which encompasses the trendy Melbourne suburbs of Collingwood and Richmond, indicated on Tuesday that it would look at inviting established graffiti artists to paint works on local walls, in an effort to discourage tagging and "vandalism graffiti".

Councilor Phillip Vlahogiannis said that problem graffiti had been increasing in recent years and the council is seeking a way to embrace the artistic side of the art while shunning the vandals.

Currently, Melbourne is home to world-famous laneways that are used by local graffiti artists to express their art.

Hosier Lane is considered as a tourist attraction by Melbourne' s tourism website "That's Melbourne", and is ranked in the top 40 attractions on travel website Trip Advisor.

Vlahogiannis said an idea that could replicate the central business district's laneways by incorporating local artists and a "third party" tour group could entice more local and international tourists to Melbourne's burgeoning suburbs.

"What is proposed in the officer's report, which is coming forward to council this evening, is that (tours) may be something that third party operators do," he told 3AW radio.

"As far as council is concerned, we don't condone illegal graffiti."

Vlahogiannis said that vandalism continuing to be a problem despite the council pouring thousands of dollars into the removal of tags and illegal painting, particularly on private property.

"In some cases it's week-in, week-out, it's being removed, and there it is again," he said.

The council was also seeking input from residents about combating the problem.

"Potentially an option might be if it happens to be private property, if the private property owner can come to some arrangement with a local artist and put something up on the wall that is beautiful and therefore deter vandalism, that's a good outcome," he said.

"From the council's perspective, we're trying to be on the front foot. We're looking at options to support local artists to put up a work of art. There's a bit of thinking outside the square going on here."

"We're saying 'well this approach of putting things up or encouraging private property owners to put up something that is aesthetically pleasing and add to that beautiful open air public art gallery that we have throughout Melbourne' is a good outcome." Endi