Southwark Council plays Big Brother

By Miranda Bryant
Anti-terror laws are being exploited by Southwark Council to catch residents committing minor offences, an investigation exposed this week.
The council admitted to The Platform that it used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) to spy on residents to combat fly-tipping, which is the dumping of waste in unauthorised areas. 
A Freedom of Information [...]

An utter waste of good rubbish

By Miranda Bryant
Lorry loads of domestic waste collected for recycling by Lewisham households are being incinerated because of minor incidents of contamination, The Platform can exclusively reveal.
Veolia, the firm contracted to handle the borough’s recycling, is routinely sending lorries away from its centre in Plumstead, because they don’t have the facility to remove unsuitable items.
A [...]

Oba-joyed!

By Vanessa Kortekaas
Obama mania swept across southeast London in the early hours of Wednesday morning, as Barack Obama was declared the first black president of the United States.
Southwark residents at the Anchor pub cheered as the results came in. “This will change the face of politics,” said James Harvey, 23. “We’ve got a mixed race [...]

Police head back to school

By Enjoli Liston
Every police officer in Southwark will return to the classroom to be taught by a team of under-21s on how to conduct stop and search measures more sensitively.
Chief Superintendent Shirley Tulloch, the deputy borough commander for Southwark, announced that over 900 police officers will take part in the educational sessions from [...]

Council squeezes community centre for £50k

By Ceiri O’Driscoll
A Peckham community centre threatened with closure by the council has been given two months to raise nearly fifty thousand pounds to stay open.
The Spike Surplus Scheme was handed a £440,000 bill by Southwark Council to buy the plot of land it stands on, or face the sale of the building to developers. [...]