An ex-graffiti artist has blamed a county's tagging problem on a lack of legal spaces available for people to use.

Richard, 47, who wants to remain anonymous because he now works for the government and used to graffiti in illegal spaces, said allowing areas for people to practice their art without fear of prosecution would discourage people from ‘tagging’ town centres.

“In Maidstone and in Canterbury there used to be a lot of tagging in both towns,” he said. “When the legal spots appeared, the tagging went right down. And then when they took them away the tagging started to rise again.”

‘Tagging’ is the act of a person quickly spray painting a nickname or unique mark, usually in a public place.

Richard said there are differences between ‘taggers’ and artists who take time to design more detailed pieces, and many graffiti artists are just trying to find spaces to paint without disrupting town centres or residential areas.

“I go through Canterbury quite often and under the motorway bridges there are a lot of pieces there," he said.

"They're trying to find somewhere where they can do graffiti legally.

"And what are these artists going to do? They're going to try to express themselves another way aren't they?"

Richard said graffitiing on the derelict Maidstone flats on King Street was ‘tolerated’ by police because it kept drug users away from the abandoned building, but when they were knocked down in 1994 it left people with nowhere to spray paint.

“For about three years the Maidstone flats were regularly done without fear of repercussions of anything like that,” he said.

This month Canterbury City Council voted to increase the punishment for graffiti from £80 to £150.

The council is now offering £500 rewards to people who identity graffiti vandals.

Richard believes authorities confuse the issue of graffiti when celebrity street artists are celebrated and lesser-known artists are prosecuted," he said.

“You blur lines by allowing things by Bansky to be protected.

“It sends mixed messages - both are illegal, both use spray paint.”

A Brexit-themed Banksy mural in Dover was recently valued at £1 million.

Richard also does not think fines or financial rewards will stop the issue in Canterbury.

“Back in the early 90s they used to give prison sentences of three to four years for doing graffiti, and it never stopped then so a fine isn’t going to stop anyone,” he said.

“It’ll cost them more to catch someone than actually fine someone, so I don’t see it working at all.”

During a council debate to increase the fines given to graffiti vandals, Canterbury Labour councillor Mel Dawkins described graffiti as a form of art and said the only way to solve the problem was to work together.

"I think that looking at different approaches, as seen in other towns and cities, may be a way of finding a workable solution," she said.

"It is also important to start a dialogue between the graffiti artists and the community to find ways to move forward.

"Brighton and Bristol have successfully introduced legal walls and chosen spaces for graffiti, as well as an international graffiti festival that attracts thousands of tourists bringing revenue and culture to the city every year."

Cllr Dawkins also supports the idea of legal spaces for graffiti artists: "It would give a space for many artists who do wish to express themselves through graffiti art a safe and legal environment, which is what they want. Also many people do actually like street art and would love to visit these spaces, take photos and selfies."

A spokesperson from Canterbury City Council said: "We currently have no plans to provide a 'graffiti wall'.

"Our focus is on ridding our district of this ugly scrawl.

"We have employed extra staff and put more money into cleaning graffiti, as well as working more closely with businesses and utility companies to deal with graffiti on their property."

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