“I will murder you! I will murder you!”
Speaking from home, musician and teacher Neil told of how a man leaned towards his family’s flat in their Oyster Court development in Walworth – waking his seven-year-old daughter from her sleep to hear these chilling words.
“She came in, her little heart was racing… she was like ‘Daddy!’”, he said, impersonating her voice.
Neil and his wife Emma, leaseholders of their flat in the private development, were taking part in the second edition of Southwark Soapbox, the News’ project to raise interest in the local elections on May 5.
Focusing on Newington, an area between Walworth, Kennington and Elephant and Castle, we are interviewing candidates for the elections on three key topics: crime, housing, and the environment and transport – before showing the debates to four diverse households in the ward.
Asked about some residents in Newington like Neil and Emma feeling unsafe in and around their homes, Liberal Democrat candidate Abdul Gbla brought up Labour budget cuts and said the party would bring in 100 new community wardens to patrol the borough’s streets. Labour is already spending £2 million on wardens.
Southwark Soapbox: how would the parties help keep our streets safe?
Kym, a Newington Estate resident, thought this was a good idea. “I think we should have more wardens, I think we should have more people walking across the estate late at night and early in the morning.”
“We never heard from anyone like asking or offering any services about more security,” said Paula, who lives on the Brandon Estate. “Nothing!”
Southwark Soapbox: residents shocked at ‘astonishing’ lack of youth services in Newington ward
John Batteson, one of the Labour candidates for the ward, shot back at Abdul that the budget cuts were forced on the Labour council by national spending cuts made by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition when they came to power in 2010.
“Now when decisions are made like that, the local council has to take action in terms of where to prioritise its funding,” Mr Batteson said. “I think if we’re going to lay the blame at any party, the Liberal Democrats have to take their share”.
Mr Gbla said: “We haven’t been in government for seven years, you know, we’re not in government no more, so… the last time the Lib Dems was in government was – when was that?”
Pressed on what Labour would do despite budget cuts, Mr Batteson said bringing in more CCTV and lighting was important. He added that he felt unsafe and these fears were often worse for women.
Watching, Oyster Court leaseholder Emma said: “If I come home late at night, you [Neil] prefer me to walk the main road, so I walk all the way round… Either someone walks with me through here, or I go all the way round the main roadway and Neil will stand on the balcony and watch me come down the road.”
Kate, Paula’s daughter who lives with her on the Brandon Estate, said a good change had been made locally.
Southwark Soapbox: Labour and Lib Dems blame each other over budget cuts
Describing a “garden area”, she said: “They added light, before there was no light – people would just sit there with their hoodies in the dark.
“And I would just be like ‘that’s kind of creepy, why are you sitting there? Now they added a light, which is actually really nice, so when I’m coming back from work for example and it’s quite dark, it’s nice to be able to see whether there’s someone there, there’s someone maybe hiding.”
John added that it was important to work with local people on these changes. But Kym said, despairingly, “But this [anti-social behaviour] has been going on for years and years – when is it going to change?”
Representing the Green Party, Clare Wood said that local people didn’t feel their concerns were being addressed by the Labour council.
“It’s a bit of an indictment that they’ve already tried to speak to the council and feel that they have not been listened to,” she said.
Les, Kym’s partner and a Brandon Estate resident, was sceptical about all the candidates’ claims to want to listen to residents.
“The only time the council come round is like now when it’s coming up to voting, to get their party in,” he said. “Then they come knocking on your door.”
Ola, a mother of four who also lives on the Brandon, said: “If they really are serious about representing the people then they need to speak to the actual people getting the work done, not listen to what… is being said within the council office.”
If the candidates want to listen to Newington residents’ experiences with crime and anti-social behaviour, two of our households have a wealth of experiences to share.
Drugs are one of the major concerns. Kym said: “You get all the… drug people, all walking about, all throwing up by the football pitch, waiting for their… person to come along and give them their fix, which is disgusting. Kids are going to school!”
Neil added: “There’s no control – I mean there’s a haze of weed most nights when you walk through this area.” He said that police didn’t seem to care and he was afraid to keep calling them because he thought he might be labelled a nuisance.
Other stories included a man dancing around outside Neil and Emma’s window brandishing a knife in the middle of the day, and Kym’s door being “booted in” several times by miscreants.
She said: “I’m just worried for my grandchild, not being able to go out and have a phone, or not being able to walk the streets wondering whether you are going to get mugged, or wondering whether someone is just going to come up and put a knife in you, because that’s what’s happening.”
- NOTE – The News would like to make clear that despite repeated requests throughout our filming the Conservative Party in Southwark declined to join in our debates
Why should you vote on May 5th?
- Your council makes important decisions and has responsibility for a huge range of things that affect your everyday life – from what housing gets built and where, to closing off roads to cars and keeping the streets clean and tidy.
- Individual councillors in your area are also meant to help you with problems that you come to them with.
- Southwark Council has been controlled by the Labour Party since 2010. Some 48 out of 63 councillors are from Labour. Fourteen more are from the Liberal Democrats, and there is one councillor who is independent. There are no Conservative or Green Party councillors at the moment, although people from both parties are running in May.
- Local elections are normally held every four years. The elections to choose new Southwark councillors will take place on May 5 this year. You vote by ward – the area which you live in – for whichever candidates you want to represent you. Depending on the ward, there are either two or three councillors to choose.
- Any adult from the UK or EU living in the UK, or any adult from the Commonwealth with permission to stay in the UK can vote, as long as they register.
- You can find your councillors on Southwark Council’s website by searching online for ‘find Southwark councillors’. Or CLICK HERE to find your councillor
- You must be registered to vote by 11.59pm on April 14. Register to vote here.