If we are to get a grip on the scourge of violent crime, it has long been clear that we need to take a finely balanced approach between enforcement and prevention.
This week, it has been very encouraging to see City Hall announce a further £55.5 million investment targeted at addressing the root causes of violence. And we are also starting to see police officer numbers recover, in part due to the Government finally taking action, but also down to the hundreds of millions invested by the Mayor to take police officer numbers in London above 31,000.
However, the key to ending violence in our capital lies in our ability reach out and provide sustained support to young people most vulnerable to becoming caught up in crime and gang exploitation.
City Hall is ensuring that local authorities, community organisations and the police are being given the resources to do this.
Unmesh Desai AM, Labour’s London Assembly policing and crime spokesman
Editor's reply
Dear Unmesh
I share your positive reaction to the news that the Mayor is investing more in tackling the underlying problems that can lead to some young Londoners becoming involved in violent crime and am particularly glad to see the additional mentoring support that’s intended for children excluded from school.
That’s because it’s crucial that when young boys, and less often girls, reach this stage they are able to benefit from positive influences that can stop them going further off course. In this context, I was struck by the comments of the young Arsenal star Reiss Nelson in an interview with this newspaper in which he told how the guidance of his older brother and sister had helped stop him from doing the “wrong stuff” like others he grew up alongside on south London’s Aylesbury estate. He said this mentoring has been crucial in his success. Let’s hope the new City Hall money can transform other young lives too.
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor
HS2 is welcome but it has flaws
I am a supporter of high-speed rail, especially in the country that gave railways to the world. Developments that reduce internal flights and the use of motorways are to be welcomed.
However, HS2 has several flaws, as touched upon in your editorial [“HS2 was always on, now let’s make it HS North”, February 11]. I would summarise them as: 1) no connectivity in London to HS1, necessitating an interchange; 2) ditto in Birmingham; 3) increased costs due to excessive tunnelling in the Tory shires and also higher than usual speeds compared with Europe; and 4) huge opposition from environmentalists. Sadly, it is now probably too late for sense to prevail.
Kirk Martin
Cyclists lament
Further to Paul Tomlinson’s letter [The Reader, February 12], I much prefer to travel by bike. However, I was hit and nearly killed by a bus in 2016. More bike lanes should be provided to protect cyclists against a ton or more of steel moving at speed.
Dominic Shelmerdine
Cycling through Regent’s Park in the part that looks like an extension of the Broad Walk (where bikes are allowed), I was handed a £60 fine by not one, but three, police officers. With the rise of knife crime and other crime, surely the Met’s resources could be better spent?
Ilana Audet
Mayor must make new homes green
Your leading article was right to highlight the capital’s need for more good-quality and affordable houses [“A bold plan for tackling London’s housing crisis”, February 12], following Rory Stewart’s pledge for 250,000 new homes.
However, it is vitally important that all new houses, which will provide homes for several decades, are built to emit no greenhouse gas emissions after 2050, and to be resilient to the changing climate. As Lord Deben, climate change committee chairman, has pointed out, housebuilders have been exploiting weak regulation with developments that lock in expensive retrofit requirements for owners as the costs of dealing with climate change mount.
Whoever occupies City Hall after May’s mayoral election should make a priority of ensuring all our homes, old and new, are made energy efficient, zero-carbon and climate-resilient.
Bob Ward, Policy and communications director, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics
