Chalk Farm street shooting brings plea for Gospel Oak Maitland Park Youth Centre reprieve

Published: 26th May, 2011
by JOSIE HINTON

TOWN Hall proposals to slash youth services have come under attack in the aftermath of the shooting of a young man in Chalk Farm.

The victim, in his early 20s, remains in a “critical but stable” condition in hospital after he was shot in Haverstock Hill, near the junction with Prince of Wales Road, on Thursday night.

Police and ambulance crews were alerted by a neighbour who saw the victim screaming for help on the pavement at about 9.40pm. Haverstock Hill was closed until the early hours of Friday.

The shooting took place inside a youth dispersal zone, introduced last month after two men were stabbed in the space of two weeks in Queen’s Crescent.

Police have confirmed the shooting is being treated as “youth-related violence”, but stressed it is not linked to the Malden Road stabbings.

Camden’s most senior police chief confirmed that tackling youth violence is the top priority for officers – and stressed the importance of “engagement over enforcement”.

Speaking at a public meeting on Tuesday, Borough Commander John Sutherland said: “We are very clear that gangs, youth violence, knife crime are the overwhelming number one priority of the borough and it is getting the kitchen-sink treatment. 

“There is no sense of complacency, no sense of anything else being more important than this, but we are kidding ourselves if we think this is an issue for the police only. This is a societal problem and demands a societal response.”

The latest attack came as youth workers and councillors questioned the thinking behind council plans to scale back services for young people and relocate them away from Queen’s Crescent.

Under proposals out for consultation, Gospel Oak Maitland Park Youth Centre is to close from April 2012 as part of a raft of measures to achieve £2.3million savings. Youth work session hours would be cut by 15 per cent across the borough.

Tony Dallas, a freelance youth worker with experience of Gospel Oak and Queen’s Crescent, described the move as “criminal”.

He said: “Queen’s Crescent remains one of the hotspots for crime in the whole of Camden. Despite this, youth services have been depleted over the last ten years.

“Youth workers in Queen’s Crescent have an impossible job because they have nowhere to do it. If young people have no youth centre and they are not allowed on the street, where are they supposed to go?

“With the postcode issues for young people, relocating a service to another area is not practical. Where are you going to be able to send young people from Queen’s Crescent that they will feel safe and not intimidated? It’s simply untenable.” 

Haverstock councillor and Lib Dem youth spokesman Rahel Bokth said the scaling back of youth services would leave young people with “fewer and fewer places to go to. It’s particularly sad to see the council removing youth services from Haverstock ward, one of the most deprived in the borough,” he added. 

“Young people are extremely territorial, and the idea that they’ll hop on a bus to the next closest service is extremely naive.” 

Labour’s community safety boss Councillor Abdul Hai said the council had been “proactive” when dealing with youth violence. “We are looking at how we can be more innovative in getting the message across that violence and weapons don’t achieve anything,” he said.

“We are also planning some joined-up work with children, schools and families to see what we can do with some of those challenging young people.” Camden’s police chiefs have ploughed resources into Operation Curve, a dedicated team of 30 officers aimed specifically at containing youth violence through positive engagement. 

Safer Neighbourhoods policing in Gospel Oak and Haverstock wards has helped reduce overall crime year on year for the last six years.

But Thursday’s shooting near busy Chalk Farm Tube station has shocked a community. 

A nearby trader, who runs a bakery in Haverstock Hill, saw the injured victim lying on the pavement as she visited her shop on Thursday night.

She said: “I saw this guy lying on the floor and his left leg looked like it was cut in half.”

Haverstock Lib Dem councillor Matt Sanders, who lives in Prince of Wales Road, said: “This incident is extremely upsetting for people in the area. You just don’t imagine something like this happening on your street. Our thoughts are with the victim and his family.”

The shooting is being investigated by the police Operation Trident team. No arrests have been made.

The consultation on cuts to youth services runs until June 17. 

A council spokeswoman said: “No changes will be implemented until the views of the community have been received and the Cabinet have the opportunity to explore the options available.”