Bloomsbury 'suffering drug crime explosion'

A BLOOMSBURY vicar is calling for tough police action to stem the flow of Soho's crime and drug problems into the area around the British Museum.

The Reverend Perry Butler, rector of St George's Church, says drug dealing and violent crime have become rife in the area over the past year.

"The last year has been a trial with a growing drug problem and the violence that goes with it. There is open drug dealing in the streets during the day and night. It seems to be linked to young homelessness, which is very depressing," he said.

"The yard at the back of the church has been used as a place where drug addicts hang out. We have found people on the steps sleeping rough, an enormous amount of dirty needles and other filth."

Staff at the church on Bloomsbury Way have had to install extra lighting and fencing around the grounds of the Grade I building to stop people from using the grounds to inject drugs.

Mr Butler, who has been at the church for five years, believes the problem has been caused by the police's zero tolerance campaign known as the Lilac Project, which has shifted the problem to the popular tourist spot.

The operation, which began in October last year, is aimed at combating drug dealing and related problems in east Soho, parts of Marylebone, the northern end of Covent Garden and south Blooms-bury.

Its cutoff point is Coptic Street leaving out Museum Street and the other roads in front of the British Museum on Great Russell Street.

Mr Butler said: "The police crackdown is geared to particular areas.

Our part of Bloomsbury is not the focus of it and that has pushed the problem into our area.

"The Great Court has only just opened at the British Museum and is going to be a big pull for tourists. It is becoming very dangerous and that's not the image you want to give to people from abroad."

Paul Clarkin, vice chairman of the Parnell House Residents Association, was mugged at gunpoint in his doorway on Streatham Street six weeks ago. He said: "Everywhere you go you see people smoking crack and shooting up in the street. There's a lot of dealing and it's all done quite openly.

"I have an eight-year-old son and I've had to explain to him what's going on. It's so blatant. It seems to have got completely out of control."

Mr Clarkin has lived in the area for eight years and says crime has spi-ralled out of control in the past two.

"When I came here there were rough sleepers but the drugs problem just was not there," he said.

Both Mr Butler and Mr Clarkin say crime has calmed down during the colder months, but they expect dealers and addicts to be back on the streets come the spring.

Mr Butler has called for increased policing and the installation of CCTV in Museum Street. He said: "The thing has eased recently but we are worried that it will come back with renewed force when it starts getting warmer in May and June."

Shopkeepers in Museum Street have reported having to clear blood- filled syringes and other drug remnants from the front of their shops, and a number of them have installed metal grills to stop people shooting up in their doorways after the shops shut.

Sergeant John Baldock of the Lilac Project said: "There is always an element of displacement. But the improvement in the lives of the people who live and work in the areas we cover has been fairly great in the last four months.

"We know that by tackling a big market, smaller markets will inevitably develop nearby. But the whole idea is that we can then begin to tackle those and eventually the whole area is improved. It's a long-term thing. People are understandably complaining but this is a two-year project and we have only been going for four months."

He said the problems in Bloomsbury were being looked at by a team based at Kentish Town police station.

A public meeting to discuss the issue attracted 50 residents and business people last month. Another meeting is planned for next month. No date has yet been set.

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