North Southwark abandoned on ASB and crime as council outsources community safety

Southwark Liberal Democrats have slammed Labour-run Southwark council over its decision to outsource community safety work to a private contractor instead of hiring local wardens, and have accused the authority of “abandoning” the north of the borough as resource appears to be being focused into the south. 

The council had recently announced its decision to outsource its community safety work to a private contractor, which according to official records is based in Warrington, and made a £2 million profit last year.  

Meanwhile, the opposition group have criticised council efforts to curb ASB and crime for failing to look at hotspots in the north of the borough. None of the “action areas” are in any of the Bankside, Bermondsey or Rotherhithe areas, despite phone theft reaching an all time high around the Bankside and London Bridge area. 

This comes after the opposition group was joined by London Assembly Member Gareth Roberts to campaign for the Canada Water police hub to be restored, with the proposed replacement facility failing to materialise due to Labour incompetence.  

London Mayor Sadiq Khan also recently came under fire following his decision to close almost half the police front counters in London, which breaks a manifesto commitment he made in the previous London elections.  

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Victor Chamberlain said:  

“Labour are abandoning the north of our borough. With the Canada Water police hub closed and resources funneled south, Bermondsey and Rotherhithe are being left behind 

Choosing to reject Liberal Democrat proposals to double community safety wardens and instead outsource the work to private profit-making contractors instead shows that our Labour council are just not interested in taking community safety seriously.  

Meanwhile our London Mayor is making manifesto-breaking front counter closures, and the Labour government are not giving the police the resources they need. 

Liberal Democrats will return to real community policing to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, and put real resource into recruiting local community safety wardens to make our streets safer and cleaner across the whole borough.”