Residents want safer streets, roads and communities – they want a council that works with the Mayor of London and Bromley’s Police to reduce crime, tackle antisocial behaviour and keep our communities safe.

We will take an active approach to making our streets and roads safer, acting on known danger spots and residents’ concerns instead of waiting for harm.

Summary

• Safer Neighbourhoods and local policing across Bromley
• A proactive Road Safety Plan to prevent harm
• Strengthen Bromley plans to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls
• Safer, attractive community centres and supporting shop workers
• Better lighting and safer streets
• Better public transport

4.1 A proactive, preventative road safety plan to prevent harm

We will:

• End the Conservatives’ policy of waiting for five road deaths or serious injuries (KSI) before taking safety measures
• Work with our local communities to identify roads where safety is being regularly compromised
• Reverse the Conservatives’ policy to get rid of speed bumps already in place where removal is opposed by residents
• Take advantage of Transport for London grants to bring in safer cycleways and crossing
• Improve scrutiny of road safety by restructuring accountability for highways within the Public Protection Division
• Work with local police, TfL and other stakeholders to enforce existing speed limits, particularly where residents report continued patterns of speeding and dangerous driving

4.2 Safer neighbourhoods and more visible local policing

We will:

• Work with the Mayor of London and the Met to reduce police abstractions so that neighbourhood officers stay in Bromley
• Make the Safer Bromley Partnership a public committee with resident representation
• Use data and local knowledge to prioritise resources where they are most needed

4.3 Standing up to domestic abuse and Violence Against Women and Girls

Everyone should feel safe at home and in public.

We will:

• Work with the police, health services and specialist organisations to strengthen support for survivors, including access to secure housing and financial advice
• Improve the way the council identifies and responds to domestic abuse, including training for staff across housing, social care and customer services
• Support programmes that work with perpetrators to change behaviour, alongside strong enforcement
• Make public spaces safer by improving lighting, designing out crime and listening directly to women and girls about where they feel unsafe

4.4 Standing with shopworkers and local retailers

Retail workers and small local shops are too often on the frontline of abuse, theft and antisocial behaviour.

Bromley Labour will:

• Establish a Community Safety Fund that helps local retailers to put in place practical anti-crime measures, such as better lighting, CCTV, secure storage and staff training
• Work with the police, trade unions and business groups to tackle retail crime and abuse of shopworkers, including targeted operations in high-risk areas
• Link this work to our high street regeneration plans and Safer Bromley Partnership, so that safety, economic vitality and community use of local centres reinforce each other

4.5 Safer, accessible and attractive community centres

We will:

• Work with the police and Safer Bromley Partnership to tackle antisocial behaviour in town centres and parades
• Improve lighting, crossings, pavements and step free access so that older and disabled residents can use local centres confidently
• Ensure new developments contribute to better streets, including greenery, seating and active frontages

4.6 Fixing potholes and reducing roadwork disruption

Potholes damage vehicles, endanger cyclists, and frustrate residents across Bromley, while roadworks cause disruption, pollution and delays to journeys across the borough.

We will:

• Introduce a faster, more accountable repair service that fixes roads properly, not repeatedly
• Improve communication and collaboration with neighbouring councils to deal with the impact of roadworks around borough boundaries
• Coordinate utilities works and incentivise joint works, with a target of reducing the number of days roadworks are in place over a year
• Review charges for roadworks and penalise inappropriate works, and end permits where no activity is seen by residents, including over weekends
• Better publicise roadworks information, including details of diversions and bus service changes.

4.7 Better public transport

We will:

• Support public transport expansion and work with TfL to improve bus services in Bromley, including more frequent and better-routed services where residents are currently poorly served
• Press to protect vulnerable routes that serve estates, hospitals, schools and town centres, so residents can rely on affordable, accessible public transport alternatives to the car
• Support the protection of the Freedom Pass

4.8 Better security for Bromley parks

We will

• Ensure better scrutiny of the park security contract, to hold the contractor to account and ensure regular patrols of our parks
• Improve liaison with local Safer Neighbourhood Teams
• Enact clear, effective response times when incidents occur

How Labour’s national plans support this locally:

• Labour’s mission to take back our streets, with more neighbourhood policing and a focus on serious antisocial behaviour, will give Bromley stronger backing to tackle crime and disorder in our town centres and estates
• The national clean energy and warm homes missions will support Bromley’s own climate and clean air work, by funding insulation, clean heat and local green energy projects that cut emissions and bills
• National strategies on Violence Against Women and Girls and retail crime will reinforce our local efforts with the police, businesses and communities to make public spaces safer for everyone who lives, works and shops here