Tent Cities are back across Westminster and local people are calling for action. I joined Cllr Paul Swaddle by the growing tent city on Park Lane.
Paul Swaddle said,
"So tents across Westminster are becoming a real problem. And this Labour Council is failing to deal with them. Not just here on Park Lane, but right across the city. I'm here with Tim Barnes. He's the Conservative candidate in the West End Ward by-election. Tim, what are residents telling you here in the West End ward?"
I replied,
"Paul, residents are telling us that this is a real issue, particularly for those who live closest to Park Lane.
"This central reservation area is one where we historically had a problem with tents and a large amount of time, money and effort went in to supporting the individuals who are here to move on and to having that tent city cleared.
"But as you can see, there's 20 or 30 tents that are here.
"Once again, these are predominantly inhabited by people who are part of organised gangs, who are part of the begging problem that we see across much of the West End.
"You see all sorts of human impact problems around it. There's human excrement underneath some of these trees. There's litter everywhere, as well as the tents themselves.
"It's something that’s discussed and brought up with us not just by residents, but also with tourists and by people from TfL and by many of the authorities that are involved, and particularly by those who live nearby in the streets immediately behind, who are regularly harassed by some of the people who are here and occasionally threatened.
"And that's why we will be taking the Labour Council and holding them to account, and getting them to sort out this problem once and for all."
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