British Transport Police officers have issued a reminder about the consequences of falsely reporting crime.
False crime reports divert police attention from passengers and railway staff who really need it. People who are found wasting police time or perverting the course of justice can find themselves facing arrest.
On Monday a man was handed a formal police caution after boasting on Twitter that he had lied to police about having his wallet stolen, with BTP officers quickly picking up on the messages.
The 23-year-old man, from Benfleet in Essex, told police that he had his wallet snatched out of his hand whilst on board a train at Bermondsey Tube station.
But the man soon tweeted about how he had lied to BTP about the incident and had in fact forgotten his wallet.
The tweets were picked up by BTP’s control room and he was arrested a few hours later for perverting the course of justice, before being handed a formal police caution.
BTP Superintendent Matt Wratten said: “This man wasted valuable police time by falsely claiming his property had been stolen. He then had the audacity to brag about it on social media.
“Thanks to the quick actions of the staff in our Force control room, and the man’s tweets, we were able to quickly identify that the theft hadn’t taken place.
“We know the majority of people report crimes openly and honestly, and we will always treat every report as genuine. I hope this man and others who are considering making a false claim now think twice about doing so.”
Supt Wratten added: “BTP recently launched Operation Magnum to tackle theft and already we’re arresting more offenders.
“Our plain-clothes officers patrol the Tube network every day and are highly-trained in spotting the kind of behaviour that tells them someone is intent on theft.”
King’s College London’s plans to establish a major new campus at Canada Water are included in the Mayor of London’s 2020 Vision – The Greatest City on Earth: Ambitions for London document.
Boris Johnson wrote:
As UCL expands to the east, and Imperial College to the west, so King’s College, another internationally renowned university is reaching across the Thames to Canada Water. This will help develop a new science cluster with potential for 2,500 new homes and 2,000 new jobs.
In the document the Mayor also makes positive noises about the prospect of an eastern extension of Barclays Cycle Hire.
A Tesco Metro supermarket is open at the Parker Building in Jamaica Road, near the Abbey Street junction.
Tesco Metro is the chain’s medium-size format, larger than the Tesco Express convenience shop. A similar store can be found in Tooley Street.
Tesco has submitted planning applications to Southwark Council for a new shopfront and bank machine. The chain has also applied for advertisement consent for new signage.
Southwark Council is to spend £15,000 to investigate the possibility of extending the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme beyond its current coverage area in the north-west of the borough.
The council has allocated £10,000 to identify cycle hire docking station sites beyond the current scheme area in Southwark.
At present, there is only one docking station east of Tower Bridge Road.
The council says that this work will investigate possible extension options towards Burgess Park and along the river. The findings of the study will be used to cost and plan future scheme expansion.
The recently approved redevelopment of the Biscuit Factory in Bermondsey includes provision for a docking station as part of the planning permission.
The council will also spend £5,000 on a collaborative study with a leading academic to investigate cycle hire usage patterns and identify barriers to usage. This information will also be used to put together a case for extending the cycle hire scheme.
Plans for a 19-storey tower in Rotherhithe New Road have been turned down by Southwark Council’s planning committee.
The scheme included 158 homes, new accommodation for the Southwark Free School and a sixth form centre for the City of London Academy.
Officers had recommended that the scheme be refused on the basis that it would leal to the loss of industrial and warehousing land in a designated area.
Planners also warned that the scheme “represents an overdevelopment of the site” and criticised the 19-storey tower for its “inappropriately large scale, architectural expression and the form, massing and design of the building”.
The level of affordable housing in the scheme had also been a point of contention, with just 10 of the 158 homes designated as affordable.
That the developers SCCD pressed ahead with the application despite the clear steer from planning officers suggests that they are hoping that Mayor of London Boris Johnson will ‘take over’ the case from the council – or that the application will go to appeal and a planning inspector will decide.
Southwark Council has voiced its strong opposition to proposals to use Chambers Wharf for the Thames Tideway Tunnel superseder. The council has set out its objections in its first formal response to the Planning Inspectorate on the impacts of the proposal.
“We strongly believe that Chambers Wharf is the wrong site for such a disruptive, major piece of construction like the Thames Tideway Tunnel,” said Cllr Peter John, Labour leader of the council.
“The proposed location is in the heart of a heavily residential area and very close to three of the borough’s schools. The round-the-clock noise, vibrations and traffic pollution caused by the construction work will blight the lives of these residents and children for years not to mention create significant safety concerns, making living and learning around Chambers Wharf an absolute nightmare.
“Any consultation by Thames Water has been ineffective and flawed at best, and at worst dismissive of the council’s genuine concerns. There has been a lack of information available on how the route of the tunnel and the affected sites have been chosen along with a lack of real opportunity for those affected by the proposals to influence site selection. Furthermore, Thames Water has failed to respond to our concerns about the potential impact of this project on our residents.
“In our opinion, there are better alternative solutions for the construction of the tunnel that would have significantly less impact than the proposals at Chambers Wharf. We will continue to oppose plans until we have achieved the best possible outcome for our residents.”
In a response on behalf of the Southwark Liberal Democrat council group, Riverside councillor Anood Al-Samerai said: “The impact of the proposals on our residents would be enormous – with six years of work, including 90 lorry movements a day and round the clock noise for the first three years, it would be impossible for them to carry on with their lives as normal.”
Councillor Eliza Mann added in her own response: “There are 150 residential properties in very close proximity to the proposed site, mainly on the nearby Dickens Estate which is home to 800 residents, all of which would be very badly affected by the plans.”
The Save Your Riverside campaign is holding a public meeting at City Hall this Thursday
An open-air swimming pool will be installed in the Decathlon car park this summer for the second year running.
On weekdays a programme of low-cost swimming lessons will be offered as part of the Mayor of London’s Make a Splash programme and at weekends Decathlon cardholders can use the pool for free.
The Big Summer Splash begins on 10 June and will run for 12 weeks.
It’s free to sign up for a Decathlon card.
King’s College London has submitted a planning application to Southwark Council to develop student accommodation, office space, affordable housing, retail units, a health care centre and public space on the former Mulberry Business Park site.
The college intends to increase student and academic staff numbers by 2,250 and 150 respectively by 2016. It is also committed to providing more student residential accommodation to meet both current and future demand.
King’s says that it plans to work with the council “to develop a town centre heart with a university environment” in the wider area, including the Harmsworth Quays site soon to be vacated by the Daily Mail.
This would include a mixed-use facility that will provide new teaching and learning facilities, student residential accommodation – of which a significant proportion would be for post-graduate student accommodation that may include a family provision – and indoor sports facilities.
The first step is to develop the former Mulberry Business Park. King’s has a contract to purchase the site when planning permission is granted for the proposed development.
“I believe that Canada Water offers an unparalleled opportunity for the college and the London Borough of Southwark to create a vibrant, unique centre that will benefit our students and staff and make a positive economic, educational and cultural contribution to the local community,” said Ralph Luck, real estate development director of King’s College London.
“The Mulberry site development is the first stage in achieving this. We would aim to commence the Mulberry site works in 2014, and completing for the academic year 2016/17.”