Southwark Council’s leader has backtracked on his claim that weapons were being found in a Walworth park on a near “daily basis”.
Cllr Kieron Williams was trying to justify destroying flowers in Nursery Row Park by saying weapons were being concealed in the plants, at Council Assembly last month.
But police have since told the News just one hidden knife had been found in the park since April 2022.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Jane Salmon, who raised the issue at Council Assembly, said the council’s “flimsy justification for this act of vandalism” had “been exposed as false”.
Cllr Williams said it was “never my intention to alarm residents” but that he’d wanted to “stress the urgent need” to keep park visitors safe.
Speaking at Council Assembly on November 22, Cllr Williams said: “I know there’s been a lot of intensive work around Nursery Road [sic] and there have been a very large number of weapons being found in the park.
“That bit has reduced, and I appreciate other issues haven’t, but there were a very large number of weapons they were finding, on a daily basis almost, I’m told.”
A Southwark Council spokesperson has since confirmed that the statement was inaccurate.
Cllr Kieron Williams has now said: “It was never my intention to alarm residents but to stress the urgent need for measures to keep park visitors safe at the time, including clear view for our CCTV.”
He added that there’d been “no reports” of weapons being found since the pruning works were carried out.
Police have now said that officers from the North Walworth Safer Neighbourhood Team, alongside Southwark Council wardens, regularly weapon sweeps the park for weapons.
A Met Police spokesperson said its records indicated that “one hidden knife” had been found and confiscated by officers since April 2022.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Jane Salmon, who raised the issue at Council Assembly, said: “The council leader’s flimsy justification offered for this act of vandalism has been exposed as false and it seems
Southwark Labour have no actual solutions for the anti-social behaviour that is ruining some of our beloved parks.
“We need more community wardens using the full powers available to them to protect our parks from crime.”
Southwark Council decided to remove a host of social amenities from its park in a bid to tackle the scourge of anti-social behaviour last summer.
In Nursery Row Park, officers destroyed a flower walkway that volunteers had spent ten years growing with £10,000 council funding.
Police had advised the council to remove the plants as they were blocking CCTV sight lines.
Southwark Council has since reaffirmed that this, and not the presence of concealed weapons, was the reason for removing the plants.
In Camberwell Green, the council dismantled the table tennis tables, having already removed toilets and hedges.
While the council’s actions were ridiculed on social media, some residents did say the table tennis tables had attracted “dodgy” people who used them as “drinking tables”.