Councilors clashed over how best to tackle violent crime and anti-social behavior in Barnet.
Labor Group called on Tories at local and national levels to ‘bring’ crime and community safety under control, while Tories claimed council officials were already doing enough and urged London Mayor Sadiq Khan to take more of measurements.
The row took place at a full council meeting on Tuesday, July 27. Labor Cllr Sara Conway called on relevant council committees to consider what more could be done to support police and improve community safety in response to what she called “a wave of violent crime and anti-social behavior ”.
Labor leader Cllr Barry Rawlings backed his motion, accusing the Conservative government of slashing police funding by £ 1.6bn since 2010. At the local level, he claimed the Tories had not invested in CCTV, community safety team, enforcement team and support services. .
Labor would set up a £ 283million fund to tackle anti-social behavior, funded by scrapping plans for a new royal yacht, he claimed.
Cllr Rawlings said Labor wanted to do “everything in our power to stand up to violent crime and anti-social behavior,” while Tories wanted “to find someone else to blame to cover up their inertia and their incompetence “.
But Cllr Jennifer Grocock, the Conservative adviser who chairs the Safer Communities Partnership board, said: “We have tragically seen four stab wounds in the past few months, and yet, while Labor Mayor Sadiq Khan inflates his PR budget, residents of Barnet pay more per police officer than residents of any neighboring borough.
Cllr Grocock said the council was conducting a review of its CCTV cameras, brought in park wardens and patrols, hired three fly unloading teams and supported the Metropolitan Police.
She called on councilors to support her amendment urging Sadiq Khan “to keep Barnet residents safe by firmly tackling violent crime and giving our borough its fair share of police officers.”
Conservative Cllr David Longstaff claimed that the number of Metropolitan Police officers had increased since 2016, but murders had risen by 50% in London during the same period. He added: “What have Labor and the GLA done about it? Absolutely nothing.”
Cllr Longstaff has claimed that none of Labor’s £ 283million funds to tackle anti-social behavior will come to Barnet. “The only thing Barnet contributes is the taxes to pay it,” he said.
Cllr Rawlings said the number of police officers increased because Sadiq Khan introduced a tax precept to offset cuts in government funding. Tory advisers had voted against a London mayor’s co-funding deal that would have increased the number of officers at Barnet, he said.
Conservative advisers voted against Cllr Rawlings’ amended motion before supporting Cllr Grocock’s amendment calling on Sadiq Khan to do more. Labor and Liberal Democrat advisers voted against.
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Source: www.times-series.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-07-29 17:42:24
