A 24-hour anti-graffiti gang and weekend pedestrianisation are part of plans to improve Brighton town centre.

Other proposals include setting up a programme of street theatre, a farmer's market and illuminating buildings with floodlights to improve the appearance of Brighton by night. Loyalty cards for shoppers and exclusion zones where persistent thieves are barred from all stores are also in the pipeline.

The Brighton Town Centre Business Forum has been carrying out a review of its business plan with the help of traders who have been taking part in discussion workshops. The forum has drawn up a draft action plan addressing marketing, appearance, access, cleanliness, security and crime to be implemented over the next 18 months. The details and timescale of the programme will be finalised within the next fortnight following public consultation with businesses.

Town centre manager Tony Mernagh said partners, which include Brighton and Hove Council, traders associations and Sussex Police, would be working to a strict timetable and each target would be accompanied by a finish date.

The plan promises to clear all main streets of chewing gum and provide two official fly-posting sites. The forum also hopes to target the problem of empty shops by creating a database of vacant retail properties to help in marketing drives outside Brighton.

If agreed, rangers would patrol the town centre and provide information, reassurance and help to visitors. Inspector Lorraine Morrison said: "One of the aims is to help store detectives help the police by writing statements and doing the set of things which make it easier for us to make an arrest when we arrive."

Peter Stocker, spokesman for the North Laine Traders' Association, said: "The only way you can deal with things like graffiti is to improve the sense of pride in Brighton."