More knife attacks in Southwark and we allocate the Camberwell Community Council Fund!

There was more shocking news over the weekend of 3 more young people stabbed in Southwark, one in Bermondsey and most shockingly 2 in Walworth aged 9 and 10! A 15 year old has been arrested.

Whilst gun crime is a real concern it does for the most part revolve around gang culture, unless you are caught in the crossfire like the nurse in New Cross! (Good to see a long sentence for the man responsible on the back of a number of 20-30 year sentences currently being given out at the moment which I welcome!)
Knife crime can be the more random and I do worry about the levels of youths carrying knives and therefore do accept the need for more stop and search and more positive action like the Met Police's current Operation Blunt in Southwark and Lambeth where over have been 200 blades seized and over 210 arrested. This followed over 4000 stop and searches over a two week period, a really intense operation but one which did deliver results! Of course there are dangers of youth alienation but of course it is that very same group that are most likely to be the victims so I believe that it is the right thing to do!
Another concern is the availability of knives especially in bargain shops and Trading Standards do have a role here to ensure that traders are not selling knives to underage people and we will be asking questions of the Executive as to what we are doing in Southwark to tackle this!

On a brighter note we awarded in principle the Camberwell Community Council Communiuty Fund of £15,000 (plus £2,000 carry over from last year) and the projects in Camberwell Green Ward recieving cash are( subject to ratification at the next Camberwell Community Council):

1. Camberwell Fair £1,000
2. BonkersFest Camberwell Green £400
3. Educational Alliance Africa Summer School on the Elmington Estate £977
4. Castlemead T&RA Arts and Crafts Fun Day £750
5. Poets Corner Healthy Living Day £750
6. Elmington T&RA Healthy Living Day £750
7. Grosvenor T&RA and Sheltered Unit Sewing Project £1,000
8. Warrior Princess Jedi Training Academy £350
9. Wyndham & Comber Grand Opening Day for New Play Area £661

All in all a nice total of £7,388 for projects in Camberwell Green Ward!