It is utterly heart-breaking that last night a 14 year-old boy lost his life in our borough. All my thoughts and deepest sympathies are with his family, friends and our community. I want to reassure you that we are doing all we can to support the police in their investigation and our council teams will be on street supporting patrols in the area. Please, if you have any information regarding this incident I urge you to come forward. Call the police on 101, quoting reference CAD 6179/18Nov, tweet @MetCC or call Crimestoppers, 100 per cent anonymously, on 0800 555 111. Too many young lives are being lost to knife crime in our capital – we must do all we can to end this senseless violence.
Protecting our young people from violence and exploitation has been a clear priority for us and we are working closely with the police, communities and all the local agencies that form part of our local safety partnership. Together we are determined to make our borough safer, and through our preventative approach, to do everything in our collective power to stop violence from taking place in the first place. This work is even more vital now that the pandemic has widened every inequality in our communities. You can find out our priority areas for action in our Community Safety Strategy, which was approved at cabinet this week.
Strong oversight of Brick by Brick
Also at cabinet this week we took some important decisions to ensure good oversight of and value for money for our housing development company Brick by Brick. A new advisory board will strengthen monitoring and oversight while Brick by Brick continue development of their remaining schemes. It is encouraging that 21 of the 23 sites they are working on are now close to completion, and that these will deliver 752 new homes, of which 385 will be genuinely affordable. Brick by Brick is also continuing to pay money back to the council against their loan and we are doing everything we can to secure every penny back. This is welcome progress and I will continue to keep you updated.
Find out more about the Covid-19 vaccine for your child
Finally, it was great to have parents and carers from across the borough join us last night for our webinar with the NHS on the Covid-19 vaccination for 12-15 year olds. Thank you to all who attended and put their questions put to our panel of local experts – if you missed it, you can watch here.
Have a good weekend and stay safe,
Councillor Hamida Ali, leader of the council
