When Ed, Laura and I got elected in 2006 one of our big campaign pledges was to improve the safety at the Oxford Road entrance to the Parkland Walk with CCTV cameras. The area, which is next to the footbridge over the railway to Finsbury Park, was a well known problem area and was being used as a safe escape route by burglars and muggers. The CCTV was quickly installed thanks to the support of the local neighbourhood police team.
However, we still get complaints from residents and walkers about prostitutes and drug users sometimes using the site. Every so often an unlucky walker will stumble upon an unsavoury scene or find a pile of discarded needles.
My colleague Ed Butcher has been on the case speaking to the Council and the Police. The problem seems to be that the bushes have grown up too much and are obscuring the camera’s view and providing hiding places. The good news is that Ed has secured agreement for some sensitive pruning and landscaping to the area, which the police think will make a difference.
This should help cut the risk of stumbling on a scene you’d expect in a gritty US cop show – not on a ramble down a local nature trail.