There was a stabbing on the corner of Lancaster Avenue and Norwood Road. The victim was a young man and his injuries have been declared non-life threatening. We wish him a speedy recovery, and wish to thank the staff and customers at Thai Duck Deli last night who reacted quickly and calmly to help the victim. Thank you also to the police and emergency services who responded quickly – despite significant central government cuts to funding, these services work incredibly hard to keep us safe every day.
A number of arrests have been made – it appears to have been a family dispute rather than gang related – but if you have information regarding the incident please contact the police.
Throughout our time as your local councillors, we have been working with our local Safety Neighbourhood Team on various issues across the ward. This has included specific work surrounding ASB on the Peabody estate and on issues relating to more general concerns from residents, from burglaries to speeding, for example.
Community speed watch with the police and residents on Lancaster Avenue
In our time as Thurlow Park’s Labour councillors, we have witnessed Conservative cuts to the Met police budget that have had direct repercussions here in Lambeth. Serious violence has started to rise, police counters have all closed except for a single station in Brixton, neighbourhood policing is under threat.
Lambeth police will likely merge with Southwark police to form one new ‘Borough Command Unit’ with a single Commander, 5 superintendents straddling the two boroughs, and approximately 1400 officers. Many of you have raised this with us, especially your concerns about knife crime and increasing anti-social behaviour.
Further measures set out by the Mayor of London for the coming financial year include:
£20m to pay for long awaited 2% pay rises for hard working police officers who are otherwise struggling to stay living in London as rents and the cost of living rise faster than wages
£13.9m to pay for recruitment to maintain staff numbers
£15m to tackle knife/youth violence – Cabinet Lead Mohammed Seedat will meet MOPAC to decide how this money is used in Lambeth
As your local cllrs we will continue to work with our Safety Neighbourhood Team to support their efforts in the ward and keep people safe. We supported the Lambeth Labour #SaveOurStations campaign and helped to deliver leaflets in the ward as well as support the online petition.
As a result of our campaign in Lambeth and other campaigns across London, the Mayor of London has promised 2 dedicated neighbourhood police officers per ward, while the Deputy Mayor for policing has acknowledged the importance of neighbourhood policing and as a result new ‘contact sessions’ in every ward means police will be engaging with residents more directly. This is very welcome and we have already seen #cuppawithacopper contact sessions begin. Our team in Thurlow Park advertise their contact sessions here.
As your local councillors, we will continue to attend the Safer Neighbourhood Ward panels as it even more essential to support our local neighbourhood policing teams as they try to mitigate the effects of cuts to their service. We have started monthly ASB and community safety surgeries on the Peabody Estate at 10.30am on the last Monday of the month and work closely with Peabody’s community safety team. We helped to roll out Smart Water to tackle rising burglary rates and support residents to run neighbourhood watches.
We want to reassure residents that despite cuts, we continue to work to ensure all parts of the ward are included in police patrols and we meet with officers to highlight areas of concern or which need greater attention.
Map showing where the Thurlow Park safer neighbourhood team patrolled on 8th February
Anti-social behaviour and crime are the top concern for many residents on the Peabody Estates – both Rosendale Road and Peabody Hill. It is very important to us that residents are, and feel, safe in their homes and neighbourhoods, and have been working hard to tackle this issue.
It’s a complicated issue, and no one agency on its own is going to be able to resolve it. So, we have been developing a multi-agency approach,
regularly coordinating meetings which bring together Peabody, the police, the council, community and youth groups, and local residents. We have ensured that Peabody prioritise our estate, and over the last year we have secured wardens who regularly patrol.
To complement this, we have started a new anti-social behaviour and community safety surgery and walkabout. Every month, one of your local Labour councillors, the community safety officer from Peabody and the Peabody estate manager will be on site on the last Monday of the month from 10.30-12.30.
Residents can make an appointment to see us at the community centre, organise for us to visit your home, or drop-in to see us. It’s an opportunity to raise any issue with us and get the support you need to resolve it. We also do a walkabout and visit any parts of the estate which residents have flagged for concern.
This week, our session included a walkabout of Blocks E and F, and a letter delivery to residents in those blocks reminding them of their responsibilities to be considerate neighbours. We also met with the local police who were visiting some households, and had a drop-in surgery where we discussed issues from domestic violence to noise complaints with residents.
We are aware that there was a fight on Rosendale Road yesterday involving knives. The incident is being investigated and we are in regular communication with our Safer Neighbourhood Police Officers who will be looking to increase patrols in this area.
If you have any information or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us or with our local police using these contact details. If you witness a crime please always call 999.
Grass-roots youth groups, local politicians, police representatives and faith leaders have come together to call on the new Mayor to tackle the worrying upsurge in youth violence in Lambeth.
A letter coordinated by our colleague, Cllr Mohammed Seedat, who is the cabinet member for safer communities, and co-signed by Cllr Lib Peck, leader of Lambeth Council, our MP Helen Hayes and Chuka Umunna MP, has called for the new Deputy Mayor for Policing & Crime to make ‘reducing youth violence’ one of MOPAC’s key crime reduction targets and to set up a team to coordinate a cross-London effort to reduce youth violence.
Since 2010 300 police officers have been taken off Lambeth’s streets as a result of huge funding cuts by London’s Tory Mayor. Thurlow Park Tories, despite their tough talk on crime, have stayed silent while their party slashes the number of uniformed officers on the beat in our community.
Thurlow Park labour want to make families feel safe, which is why we have:
1. Backed Lambeth’s ‘Lock It and Stop It’ programme which has resulted in a 38% reduction in burglaries across the borough.
2. Campaigned against cuts to police numbers and police stations closures across Lambeth.
3. Supported a tough licensing policy to crack down on anti-social behaviour caused by alcohol, including in Tulse Hill and on Norwod Road.
4. Worked with police to support their efforts to reduce gang crime by arresting serious offenders and persuading others to leave Lambeth’s gangs.
Thurlow Park News 