Liberal Democrats To Propose £2 million Injection to Make Southwark Safer

The Southwark Liberal Democrats have unveiled their alternative budget for 2025, where one of the key proposals is to ramp up action to make Southwark’s streets cleaner and safer.  

This comes as statistics show that theft from the person in Southwark is 42 times more likely than the national average, and shoplifting has increased by 192%.  

Taking inspiration from councils currently controlled by Liberal Democrats, the Southwark opposition group are proposing to double the number of community safety officers, with numbers still below when Labour first took control.  

They also say they’d invest in a series of measures like late night safe spaces, which Lib Dem-run Richmond has pioneered on with the police. These spaces would be “pop up” style areas in key transport hubs, with visible community safety officer and police presence so that people are able to access support if they’re feeling unsafe or otherwise in danger. 

As well as keeping the streets safer, the Southwark Liberal Democrats have also pledged to clean up the streets by abolishing the bulky waste collection charge and introduce community skips, saying that as well as enforcement action against flytippers, there needs to be more ways for people to responsibly dispose of waste.  

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Borough and Bankside Cllr David Watson said:

“Our Labour council and London Mayor are letting us down on crime and anti-social behaviour. Liberal Democrats would make this a priority and double the number of community safety officers working to make Southwark safer. We will fund this by slashing town-hall waste”