The Clapham Town Conservative candidates for the local elections on 7th May have ben dismayed over the course of recent days by the descent into lawlessness inside and outside shops on Clapham High Street from marauding teenagers, firstly during the late afternoon on Saturday 28th March and again yesterday evening, Tuesday 31st March.
On both occasions Section 35 Dispersal Orders were issued by the Met Police and a temporary closure of shops followed.
We are grateful to the police for having provided a strong and large presence in the area in anticipation of major disruption last night. This strong presence allowed them to restore order to the streets in circumstances that could well otherwise have got completely out of hand.
All youths who were arrested yesterday evening must quickly be brought to justice. Further video evidence will hopefully allow for others also to be arrested in the days ahead. An example needs to be made, and quickly, of any youths proven to have participated in criminal behaviour.
Further such copy-cat episodes must not be allowed to continue in the days and weeks ahead. The shop workers, store owners and managers and local residents have all had enough of being caught up in the midst of the intimidation that comes from the Clapham High Street and Old Town area becoming overrun by such large numbers of marauding teenagers.
Whilst pride in Clapham will undoubtedly be restored, these two recent episodes have placed a temporary dent in it.
On Saturday morning the former Home Secretary and current Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Local Government and Communities, Sir James Cleverly, came to Clapham Common, as he assisted us with our campaigning for the local elections. On that morning we were delivering leaflets specifically highlighting the high crime levels in the Clapham Town area and our success over recent months in securing a greater police presence in the area and specifically to focus on the scourge of shoplifting and ASB.
Neil Salt and Joshua Forrester had attended a meeting with the Met Police’s Superintendent for Safer Neighbourhoods in Lambeth at Brixton police station in early January pressing him to put more police in to Clapham Town. That meeting and further lobbying over the subsequent weeks has helped to bring about an increased police presence in Clapham.
There is only so much that our local police can do about making this area as safe as possible for all residents, shop workers and shop managers/owners with the limited resource that they have at their disposal. Responsibility for ensuring far more police availability on the streets and a far stronger track-record of ensuring that many more criminals are brought to book by the police falls squarely at the door of London’s current Mayor, Sadiq Khan. It’s time for him to allocate more of the huge budget available to him annually to recruiting more police officers and thereby to keeping London much safer than is currently the case.
Locally it’s only the Conservatives who are engaging in a proactive and meaningful way with our local police, ensuring that a good and effective relationship is established with them, at the same time as lobbying in a very effective way for securing a greater police presence on the ground in Clapham Town and the locality.
The best way for residents to send a message to Sadiq Khan that we have all had enough of hearing his excuses when it comes to increasing levels of crime, and particularly shoplifting, on the streets of Clapham Town and well beyond is to vote for 3 Conservative councillors on 7th May who will build further on their early-stage successes in working effectively and well with our local police. The status quo is no longer an option here in Lambeth, as the past four days of mayhem on our streets have proven. It’s time for the Conservatives, improving Clapham, together with you.
