Lib Dems: wedded to weak wardens

It’s a tragedy that the warden scheme in Lambeth was set up by a soft-on-crime Lib Dem council. It could have been so much better, but now it is just too late.

I like the idea of wardens, where they are affordable, properly tasked and equipped with the latest enforced powers. And where they have a discernible effect on crime levels.

But in Lambeth, wardens were deliberately given no enforcement powers, no real uniform and more or less left to their own devices to “engage” with the community. Labour has inherited an expensive white elephant, which had the Lib Dems won back in May, would have been rolled out at ever greater expense and no tangible crime-fighting benefit.

Rather than throw good money after bad, Labour will be ceasing the warden schemes and investing in extra PCSOs, with all the enforcement powers they need for the challenge of patrolling Lambeth.

The Lib Dems are wedded to their weak wardens, and seemingly opposed to extra police. I find myself having a bit of a barney in the local press with Cllr Julian Heather, the bête orange of the Streatham Lib Dems.

This is a letter he dashed off to the South London Press last week expressing anger at the decision we are set to make a Cabinet meeting in January to cease the council warden scheme and spend the money on extra policing instead. Bear in mind that crime and the fear of crime are residents’ number one concerns in this borough.

“Our wardens are invaluable”
Dec 18 2006

LAMBETH Labour's crime spokesman, Councillor Mark Bennett, states crime wardens are a waste of time and money ("Weak and powerless wardens may be scrapped", South London Press, December 12).

He also criticises our wardens for limited powers - established by his own Labour Government. In Streatham, Labour has announced plans to slash the successful St Leonards street wardens to just two, although rumours persist that it wants to scrap warden schemes altogether.

Yet, at a recent crime working party, which Cllr Bennett did not attend, a senior police officer commended our "very good wardens scheme" and added that the police would not be able to cope without them. He further praised the Streatham wardens for their invaluable work with local youth and expressed concern that the Streatham and Norwood police areas had been underfunded for years.

This seems to underscore the original intention of the wardens as eyes and ears, relaying valuable intelligence to police. They are also a visible presence and do a lot of community support work. Labour would do well to stop politicising crime prevention measures with tricky motions to council and tough talk and start listening to residents and police when they say that crime wardens play a positive and supportive role in our communities.

Cllr Julian Heather, Lib Dem member, Streatham Wells ward

Here is my reply.

“No need for wardens ... “
Dec 22 2006

COUNCILLOR Julian Heather's hatred of Labour shows no sign of abating (Letters, December 15).

Nor must it - he embodies the ghastly mess the Lib Dems made of running Lambeth council, including the expensive £3million botch they made of council warden schemes.

Cllr Heather criticises my absence at a recent meeting of the Streatham crime working group. It regularly clashes with the borough-wide community police consultative group, where I represent Lambeth council, and until that clash is resolved I am unable to attend. This month, I was at a community policing meeting in Cllr Heather's ward, which neither he nor his two Lib Dem ward colleagues attended. I then attended an important update for the Streatham Hub stakeholders, where again Lib Dem councillors were entirely absent. So I will accept no lectures from Cllr Heather.

I must affirm that wardens are "a waste of time and money" - as they are currently operating. The safety of Lambeth residents is paramount, and to deploy millions of pounds on schemes that are a nice idea but show little crime-fighting benefit is not a serious or effective use of public money.

The Lib Dems, who voted against Labour's antisocial behaviour legislation, typically chose to withhold Labour's tough new enforcement powers from wardens. Nor were they criminal record-checked to the correct standard to enable police to share information. Their role in community engagement has been welcomed, but every football tournament, tea party or seaside outing takes them off the streets they should be patrolling.

There are better ways to provide patrolling services, and Labour will shortly be making a decision on a stronger way forward. We will bear Cllr Heather's outburst in mind.

Cllr Mark Bennett Cabinet member for community safety, Lambeth council

And here is a letter from a resident who has decided to enter the fray, and who happily seems to agree with me.

RESIDENTS much prefer the extra police for every neighbour-hood provided by the Mayor of London to patrol our streets than paying for ridiculous Lambeth wardens who were hardly ever seen. Liberal Democrat councillor Julian Heather is misguided to defend the wardens, whom his council recruited, as all the evidence shows the police have a better chance of deterring crime.

The council wardens stopped no one because they were poorly trained and ill-equipped. They never worked times of day when antisocial behaviour was at its height. And they failed to connect with police command.

No wonder these won't be missed. The general public has greater confidence in a squad of recognisable police officers who have the power of arrest.

Philip Bray-Wilson, Park Hill Clapham