Southwark's response

Community information

The situation remains calm across Southwark although the council, police and community continue to closely monitor the situation.

All council services are running as normal. 

Disorder and possible evictions

Southwark Council is taking a balanced approach to evictions. We are meeting with the households at risk of the possible evictions because of the riots. Read about the council's approach to the post-riot evictions and the letter which was sent out to tenants. 

Helping Southwark businesses after the public disorder: temporary relief from business rates and an emergency recovery fund

A message from the Deputy Leader, Cllr Ian Wingfield:

I am very sorry to hear if your business was affected by the disorder and wholly condemn the violence and damaged caused by these recent events.  Businesses are at the heart of the local economy and the damage that was inflicted on them, both large and small, was truly awful and unwarranted.

That is why the council is offering special support during this difficult time, especially for smaller businesses.  Here's what we're doing to assist:  

An emergency recovery fund of £100,000 has been established to help small businesses in particular get back on their feet. We will closely review whether this provision is enough.

Businesses that have suffered hardship will be able to apply for temporary relief from the payment of their business rates.  The council feels that this relief is entirely right to help compensate local small businesses for their lost trade and hardship during a period of significant disruption.

We expect that business rate relief for hardship cases to be available for a minimum of one month, from the date of the events, and longer in special circumstances. We will also be expecting full support from government.

We will bid for assistance from the Mayor of London's £70m fund and other Government schemes to help business areas and high streets in the borough.

Offering a one stop shop for business advice and help from the council's business desk on 020 7525 5353 (during office hours)

To get further information and advice on how we can help you and for details of how to apply for the emergency recovery fund then call the business desk on 020 7525 5353 or email businessdesk@southwark.gov.uk

To apply for business rate relief, or for further information about it, please call 020 7525 5505.

I look forward to working with you to ensure that Southwark gets back to business.

Police update

There has been over 1,000 arrests across London but there are no borough by borough breakdown of arrest statistics as yet as this work is ongoing to collate the information in that way. Concerns were raised about the possible treatment of law abiding young people and the everyone agreed that young people should not be criminalised just for being out and about.

Community conversation

The Leader of the council has announced plans for a community conversation to understand what happened on Monday night and to see what everyone in the community can learn, so that try everything to avoid a repeat. Here's a letter he has sent to community groups today to outline his thoughts:

Along with millions of Londoners I watched the images on TV in disbelief as I saw our local streets and shops smashed by a mindless minority on Monday evening.

Streets that I had walked down just days before were now targeted by criminals who seemed to be trying their best to destroy our communities, businesses and neighbourhoods. Whatever deep seated issues may be present, the answer does not lie in carrying out looting and tearing down our high streets and there can never be any justification for such despicable acts.

It is also clear that the disorder is not just a Southwark problem as this looting and criminality was repeated right across inner and outer London as well as other cities across the country. But that does not mean that we should shy away from facing up to the very real challenges that our communities are facing. We must try to understand why a significant minority of youngsters thought it acceptable to go on the rampage with no thought of the consequences.

As a council we value our young people and are determined to do our bit to support them. Despite being hit with deep public spending cuts, unlike many local authorities, we are continuing to invest in new schools, leisure centres and library facilities. While this week we have just launched a multi-million youth fund to give young people a helping hand to reach their potential, for example through a new scholarship scheme which will pay some tuition fees for a select number of high achieving students from low income families. This is what we call trying to build a fairer future for all.

But the answers to why these events took place won't just lie with the council as we can only do so much. Speaking to residents and businesses in Peckham, Walworth and from around the borough this week, I was struck by their spirit, determination and resolve to overcome the challenges that lie ahead and their broad agreement that what's needed is a community wide response to fix our society. It was amazing to see so many people come together spontaneously to volunteer and to get stuck in to clear up the streets and get the community back to some kind of normality. Let us build on that spirit and send a strong messages to the criminals that our communities will recover from this.

So whilst we have been doing everything that we can to assist in the recovery of some of our main shopping centres that were hit and supporting the community so that the streets appear to be returning to some kind of normality, we now need to ask some tough questions about what happened.

We must not demonise our young people as the overwhelming majority are decent and law abiding whilst trying to make their way in a difficult world. I also know that it can be challenging for our young people to keep on the right path and it is shocking to hear many say they are not being listened or that they have no hope. That's why we must all think about the role we all need to play to support them - parents, guardians, families, police, council, church, schools, community and voluntary groups. We need to get everyone involved in a dialogue about what we need to do and why I will be leading a series of community conversations to look at the issues that have arisen over the next few months. We are currently working up the details which we will announce in the next few weeks. But we will want as many people as possible to get involved. And we of course must listen to young people and act on what they are telling us.

Let me be clear. There is absolutely no justification for the violence that we have witnessed. But we cannot bury our heads in the sand and think that it was a one off that could never be repeated.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to the emergency services, community leaders, faith groups, councillors, council staff, individuals, businesses and community groups who have all worked so hard this week to restore order to the streets of our borough and in the best traditions of Southwark, come together to show that we are a series of strong communities that will not be broken.

Cllr Peter John,
Leader

Volunteers

There has been a great community response with groups and individuals spontaneously coming out to assist in the clear up and many local residents and organisations have already either been involved in clear ups or contacted the council offering help. The council has written to community groups to say that if anyone wishes to help or need some support from volunteers we are happy to pass on the information.

So, if people would either like some help or to support their community please ring 020 7525 5000 leaving your details and we will put you in touch with relevant organisations.

Alternatively, you might want to get in touch with the following local groups who are already organising volunteers.

The Peckham settlement -  Ring Anne Marie Yannis on 020 7639 1823.

Follow them on twitter@pkmsettlement or become a friend of the Peckham Settlement on facebook for constant updates

Southwark Volunteer Centre - Tel: 020 7703 4205

Investigation

The police have posted images of people they would like to speak to about the disorder seen across London. Anyone with information should call the new police number 101. Always dial 999 in an emergency.

Cllr Ian Wingfield, Deputy Leader, has also issued the following statement: 
"We deplore completely the criminal acts that were carried out earlier this week and those who are found to be responsible must face the consequences of their actions. As a council we will seek, within the confines of the law, the eviction of anyone living in a council property who is found guilty of these crimes."

The Elephant and the Nun Festival  - some events rescheduled

The event organisers regret that the Elephant and the Nun festival events planned for last weekend are not taking place. But we are pleased to announce that they are to be rescheduled for next month, for the weekend of 17 and 18 September. This decision has been taken, following discussions with the police and the council, to allow the community more time to recover from the disorder that afflicted the area on Monday. We want everyone to enjoy this event and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may cause but we are all looking forward to some wonderful events next month where we can all come together and celebrate what is best in the borough.

Latest police advice for the public and businesses

The police have updated their website with the latest safety advice for Londoners and businesses

Rumours on social media

The Metropolitan Police have issued the following statement:

We are aware of rumours circulating on social networks which are untrue, unhelpful and intended to increase tension between communities. Those involved in the violent disorder and thefts over the past few days are not from any single race, religion or community group. This is unnecessary and we urge people to stop using recent events as an opportunity to cause unrest.

We are pleased to see that communities are coming together as one to reject the scenes of criminality we have seen over the past few days. The police and other authorities are tackling those involved and are taking firm action in order to prevent crime, protect communities and bring those involved before the courts. Anyone with information should call our incident room on 020 8345 4142. Alternatively you can call the Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555 111.