With South Bank being a significant tourism and leisure destination in Central London, working to make the area a safe and secure place for all is a key priority for the BID.
As we move into the warmer weather, the Summer events and pop-ups have returned, leading to an uptake in footfall and visitor numbers – with this, we wanted to update levy payers on what services have been delivered by the BID over the past three months, to prioritise safety and security in South Bank.
A core part of this service is the work delivered by South Bank Patrol, a Patrol team of 6 who operate across the BID area 7 days a week. Patrol’s primary focus is daily engagement with businesses, and speaking to security teams and front of house staff to provide ongoing reassurance and support with any security issues they might be facing. With this, the team often undertake joint patrols with the Police, Lambeth Public Protection and Lambeth Outreach Services on rough sleeping and BTP at Waterloo Station (to learn more about the BID’s Outreach Worker specifically dedicated to this service, click here).
From the 1st of April until the 30th of June, South Bank Patrol delivered:
1294 counts of stakeholder engagement.
194 counts of tackling unlicensed street trading.
93 radio checks.
88 counts of tackling antisocial behaviour.
87 meetings/briefings with the police and local stakeholders.
79 Waterloo Station radio checks.
67 joint patrols with local policing teams.
Alongside this, the team have also dealt with one-off incidents of trespassing, assault, weapons searches and welfare of local persons.
South Bank Patrol are match funded through Section 106 revenue from the London Eye and private contributions from landowners, to allow for a much more comprehensive and well-resourced approach to security across South Bank; a Security Manager for South Bank is funded entirely through the BID levy.
To help provide a more strategic and targeted approaches to issues such as unlicensed street trading and bag thefts, the BID also funds two S92 Officers. These two officers are based permanently in South Bank, and work in cooperation with the Metropolitan Police to run joint operations. These operations over the past few months have led to a number of arrests, particularly in regard to local thefts.
If you would like to speak to the BID team about any of the services outlined above, please get in touch at BID@southbanklondon.com.
