Council Clears Park of Rough Sleepers For Tree Ceremony
Local councillors have hit out at Southwark Council after it moved on rough sleepers from Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park in order to conduct a tree planting ceremony.
Cllr Graham Neale of St George’s Ward has said that they’ve “simply moved the problem to nearby estates”, and added that residents have since reported an increase anti social behaviour. He also expressed concern given the recent cold snaps and extreme weather.
This comes as Shelter reported a 14% increase in homelessness over the last year, with Southwark experiencing the 9th highest rate of homelessness in the country.
Last Christmas saw the highest amount of rough sleepers recorded in Southwark since the Greater London Authority since 2019, with the latest available data from September showing the highest number of rough sleepers over any summer period.
The councillors also say that the situation in their ward is unique due to the five shelters in the geographically smallest ward in the borough, but without a strategic approach that leaves local residents often feeling unsafe and dealing with anti social behaviour.
Cllr Neale and his ward colleague Cllr Maria Linforth-Hall have been raising issues in Mary Geraldine Harmsworth park for years – with them calling for action from the council since at least 2019.
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Councillor for St George’s Ward Cllr Graham Neale said:
“it speaks volumes about Southwark’s approach to rough sleepers that it finally decided to address issues in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park when it wanted to do a photo-op, but chose to take the easy route of simply moving people onto residents doorsteps in nearby estates.
Only after I called them out on social media did the council seem to bother to take further action. This Labour council seems to only care about their image, but its residents who have to live the reality.
Labour need to stop burying their heads in the sand over this – we need a multi-agency, strategic approach to ensure rough sleepers receive the support they need to get off the streets, and ensure residents are not forced to deal with the fallout from Labour’s failure to act.”
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