The issue of who is responsible for removing graffiti from Farnham’s worst eyesore site has sparked a debate among local officials.

At last week’s town council meeting, councillors discussed the ongoing graffiti problem on the hoardings surrounding Woolmeads, the former shopping centre site on East Street.

The site, currently owned by government quango Homes England, has been earmarked for redevelopment into commercial units, student accommodation, and care facilities. Work has yet to start, however, and in the interim, it has attracted unsightly scrawling, drawing the ire of local residents and officials.

Cllr Graham White voiced his frustration, saying: “I’m becoming incredibly irritated with the Woolmead situation. It’s a disgusting area for anyone coming in from the east side of Farnham.”

He also shared that he had arranged a meeting with local MP Greg Stafford to discuss the situation and urged the town council to contact Homes England to address the mess.

Town clerk Iain Lynch clarified that Waverley Borough Council is responsible for removing obscene or overtly political graffiti, but not all types of graffiti. He drew a comparison to the “broken windows” principle—if issues are left unaddressed, they can escalate.

“If we don’t clean it, it will just spread more and more,” Mr Lynch said. “Woolmead is a prominent site that is causing distress because of some political graffiti. The obscene graffiti gets cleaned immediately under Waverley’s contract, but they don’t tend to clean other graffiti.”

Mr Lynch added that while the council could clean graffiti in certain areas, the onus should be on the property owner to address the issue first.

The Farnham Town Council has agreed to work with Waverley’s response team to further address the issue. In the meantime, the councillors agreed to looking into a one-off painting of the graffiti.