A weapon against crime is set to spread across Dartford - Mahler!

Already the sweets sounds of the Austrian composer are being piped through a tunnel in the town's Central Park in a bid to tackle bad behaviour.

Now the 20th Century musician's music is set to get a bigger - if not exactly appreciative - audience.

Now, as you walk through Princes Tunnel - the walkway between the Dartford park and Brooklands Lakes - music by Austrian composer Gustav Mahler is played.

It was introduced by Dartford council as a way to discourage graffiti and other forms of anti-social behaviour.

Council leader Jeremy Kite read about a similar scheme abroad.
He said: “Not every idea at the council is my idea but this was my one. It has been going for four years now and it still remains a rip roaring success.”

There is hardly any graffiti in the tunnel and council chiefs are now considering rolling out the scheme to other parts of Dartford.

Cllr Kite said: “We had a selection of music and some of it was quite obvious like Mozart or Bach, but the Mahler gives it a real Edwardian feel when you walk into the park.

“When it was first introduced I was getting emails from people saying it had cheered their day up. The stunning thing is that there is still no serious graffiti in there.

“We are looking to extend it to other areas in the town but we need to use it sparingly. I do think there are some areas and corridors where it could help.”