'STREET CRIME AT CRISIS POINT' - Westminster North MP Karen Buck, says 'City Hall not doing enough'
Published: 14 January 2011
by JOSH LOEB
CITY Hall is not doing enough to curb the crime “crisis” on our streets, an MP warns this week.
The accusation follows a spate of attacks in north Westminster including one in which an 18-year-old man was stabbed 11 times after being chased through the Mozart estate in Queen’s Park last Friday.
On New Year’s Eve other knife attacks reportedly took place in Maida Vale and Harrow Road and on December 30 a 12-year-old was attacked with a bottle in Harrow Road.
Westminster North Labour MP Karen Buck this week slammed Westminster City Council’s “unfocused” approach to youth violence and warned cuts to youth services may worsen the problem.
Ms Buck said “The council is in turmoil… and there is a crisis out on the streets.” She added: “Honestly I am almost weeping with frustration with this. The local police are doing a fantastic job. But every time we have a stabbing we get new resources for a while and then they get taken away again. We’ve known and we’ve been pressing the police and the council for the best part of two years that we have a very difficult, and probably worsening, problem between kids in Kilburn and Lisson Grove and north Paddington.”
She warned of regular tit-for-tat violence between gangs of youths from different postcodes who were engaged in turf wars – but police say they are keeping an open mind as to the nature of the incidents.
DCI Mick Forteath, who is leading the investigation into the attacks, said police did not know whether they were gang-related and it was too early to say if they were linked. He acknowledged north Westminster had experienced “an increase in crime which is not meteoric but it is disturbing and it needs to stop” and promised an increased police presence in the area. Westminster police added that an initiative had begun in partnership with the council to “…identify and focus on individuals involved in youth violence, as well as those with siblings who may be affected”.
Ms Buck said: “In my view this is a crisis. I’m not saying that that tension and that fighting is because of cuts. It clearly predates that. But you have to ask are these cuts going to make it better? No. Are they going to make it worse? Very probably.”
Nickie Aiken, council cabinet member for children and young people, said: “Gang-related violence is a pan-London problem and in Westminster we are still at a preventative stage as our issues, although serious, have not escalated to the levels seen elsewhere. We believe in early and targeted intervention to stop youth violence gaining any hold on our estates or across the city. However many of the incidents referred to involve over 18s and people coming into the city from elsewhere.”