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Two articles from The London Informer illustrate that the wealthy quiet leafy streets of The Pimlico Conservation Area (where Pimlico FLats is based) do not tell the whole story of life in Central London.
The charity Save the Children defines poverty as a single parent family with one child under 14 living on an income of less than £7,000 or a couple with two children under 14 living on less than £12,500 and on this basis 24 per cent of Westminster’s young people face severe levels of deprivation, making it the fifth worst affected local authority in the country. This surprising figure is almost twice the national average, of 13 per cent, and with increasing unemployment and cuts in welfare payments, Save the Children fears that even more children will be forced into poverty in the coming months.
The Catholic Church and The Salvation Army are two Charities at the forefront of the fight against poverty in Westminster, with Westminster Cathedral and it’s refuge “The Passage” the spearhead in the fight to make the lives of Central London’s homeless easier, however our local authority Westminster City Council cannot be counted amongst their supporters.
Westminster Council is seeking to pass a byelaw which would prohibit soup runs from operating on the open space outside the cathedral. The local authority claims that food handouts serve to keep people on the streets longer, damaging their health and life chances. I have to confess that having seen WCC employees who deal with the poor at work, I am somewhat cynical about the Council’s motives, and I suspect that the real motivation is to clean up one of London’s prime shopping and tourist areas. I am sure that with the Royal Wedding and the Olympics coming up this year and next Westminster City Council are desperate to move the problem of the homeless out of sight.
A consultation has been launched with residents, businesses, day centres, hostels and the voluntary sector for their thoughts on the proposals, Westminster Council will then to seek provisional permission from the Department for Communities and Local Government to pass a byelaw which could be in place by October.
Westminster Council’s cabinet member for society, families and adult services, defended the proposal saying it was “wrong and undignified” for people to be fed on the streets. He said:
“Our priority must be to get people off the streets altogether.”
“There is no need for anyone to sleep rough in Westminster as we have a range of services that can help them off the streets to make the first steps towards getting their lives back on track.”
I have had some personal experience of trying to get Westminster Council to house homeless people who are old and ill, and I can state that in my personal experience this is simply not true. I was told that “it is not the Council’s responsibility to rehouse homeless people”, which left me rather speechless, so I asked for a written cofirmation which was duely provided. Westminster Council’s cabinet member for society, families and adult services is delusional about the services that his council provides, don’t take my word for it – ask a homeless person in Westminster.
The services that Westminster Council is seeking to outlaw are just a contact point, the charities that reach out to those living outside mainstream society offer a range of help, treatment for addiction, rehousing, relocation outside Westminster – ban the soup and you cut the vulnerable off from a path back into society. It’s more than just providing hot soup.
But with a Royal Wedding around the corner that’s not the sort of thing that we want to see on the streets of London is it?
[…] arrive on Westminster streets every month. Westminster City Council is proposing a Byelaw to ban the provision of free food and refreshment, and rough sleeping, in a designated area in Victori…. This proposal is currently being consulted upon and you have until Friday 25th March (this Friday) […]