In Steel Street, the owner of Antijojos Mexican street food restaurant complained to City of Newcastle council over the black paint applied to the graffiti-laden cream roller doors fronting the building.

In both cases, Mr McCloy said negotiations were underway with the property owners and tenants to fix any problems.

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In the case of the Playstate Curate gallery, McCloy Group would contribute to the cost of the planned mural and would work with them on future street art projects.

But the controversial businessman's efforts to make good after the effectively unauthorised CBD working bee have not entirely placated City of Newcastle chief executive Jeremy Bath, who said he hoped "the McCloy Group has now recognised that they need to have the permission of building owners before they organise further weekend clean-ups".

"I think everyone can see the good intent of the clean-up but taking the law into your own hands rarely produces a good outcome and certainly painting a person's shop front black without their permission, is never acceptable," Mr Bath said.

He was aware of five complaints - the black colour was one issue - and one of the volunteers involved had reached out to say "the event was poorly organised without any supervision or clear instruction about which buildings to visit".

An unrepentant Mr McCloy said he organised the clean-up because it was evident the council was ignoring the problem.

He said the council's own online reporting form says "it is important to report graffiti as quickly as possible, as it is easier to remove it in the first 24 hours after it occurs" and that "removing graffiti in the first 24 hours also can impact on the chances of it reappearing".

Playstate Curate part owner Isaac Whitten said that without permission, the volunteers had painted over tags that were part of a "desired street art aesthetic".

Mr Whitten said that "if we'd wanted a blank wall, we'd have painted it ourselves".

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