Spikes fixed to floors outside buildings to keep homeless people away have been branded "inhumane" by the Green Party and condemned by Mayor of London, Boris Johnson .
Pictured are the spikes outside a block of luxury flats in Southwark Bridge Road which sparked outrage when a photograph of them was released on Twitter last week.
London Assembly member Jenny Jones (Green Party) called on the Mayor to intervene to remove the spikes and to 'change his approach to tackling the rising number of people sleeping rough in the capital'. The party pointed quoted figures from CHAIN (Combined Homelessness and Information Network) which showed there were 6,437 people seen sleeping rough in London in 2012-13, over twice as many as when the Mayor came into office in 2007-08.
Jenny Jones said: "These spikes are an inhumane and callous reaction to a growing problem of rough sleeping under Boris Johnson’s watch. I shall ask the Mayor to contact the building owners about removing the spikes and linking up with his No Second Night Out initiative. He also needs to face up to the rising numbers of rough sleepers in London, and lobby for the housing and welfare safety net to be repaired. With such insecure tenancies, cuts to benefits and cuts to homeless services, more and more vulnerable people are ending up on our streets."
A spokesman for the Mayor said Boris considers the spikes to be "ugly, self defeating and stupid" and welcomed the decision by Southwark Council to investigate.
The Spokesman added: "The Mayor is clear, the developer should see sense and remove the spikes immediately. There are far better ways to tackle rough sleeping on London's streets. The Mayor has invested over £34million in schemes to tackle the issue, like No Second Night Out, resulting in three-quarters of rough sleepers only spending one night on the streets. He will continue to work alongside the government, boroughs and key agencies to reach people in need of support."
