Standing Room Only at Crime Summit
Dangerous dogs and cyclists top of the agenda
There was standing room only at Hammersmith Town Hall on Saturday March 6 as hundreds of local residents joined councillors, police officers and a smartly dressed team of police cadets doing hosting and stewarding duties at the fourth annual Crime Summit.
The morning began with welcoming speeches from Borough Commander Kevin Hurley and Cllr Greg Smith, Cabinet Member for Crime and Street Scen.
The Borough Commander talked of falling crime in the borough, with overall numbers reduced by over a quarter in the last five years from over 27,000 per year to around 20,500 in 2009. He added: " Hammersmith and Fulham continues to get safer."
Cllr Smith outlined some of the action that has been taken in response to residents' comments at last year's summit, including clamping down on drug dealing and closing crack houses in Askew Ward and reducing noise nuisance and begging around the Apollo on Hammersmith Broadway.
He thanked the borough's Neighbourhood Watch teams, telling them: " You are making a real difference" and said that in four years, the number of schemes has grown from six to over 150, covering 200 streets and involving thousands of residents.
Cllr Smith also announced the launch of a new team of 17 neighbourhood wardens who will provide a seven day a week service tackling problems such as litter and grafitti in our streets and housing estates.
At 11am the day's real work began, as residents went off to different committee rooms to take part in 16 ward workshops, discussing the key issues which most affect their local areas. Afterwards a representative from each workshop took the stage to tell the audience of the ward's key priorities.
While some wards reported particular problems - Old Oak and College Park for instance wanted action on fly-tipping, Munster were keen to see the Smart Water scheme which has helped to reduce burglary extended and Askew Ward wanted to see more youth engagement - the comments proved surprisingly consistent across the borough.
As speaker after speaker took to the stage, it was apparent that for most people the two biggest annoyances are dangerous dogs and owners who refuse to keep them under control and clean up after them and dangerous cyclists who ignore traffic signals and ride on pavements.
A number of suggestions were made about tackling these issues, including a registration scheme for dogs and a higher level of enforcement against cyclists breaking the rules.
Council officers are now collating the results and producing an action list. Cllr Smith says of the summit: " Continued input from residents is vital. Residents have had their say and once again we are making their priorities our priority. "
March 9, 2010
