PEOPLE living next to a busy underpass fear it is becoming a magnet for crime, but they cannot lobby their council for safety measures because it is in the next borough.
Calls are growing for CCTV to be installed in the subway beneath the Green Man roundabout in Wanstead, but it comes under the control of Waltham Forest Council.
People living on the Redbridge side of the junction have enlisted the help of Leyton and Wanstead MP John Cryer, who has written to the council asking for cameras to be installed.
Among those campaigning is Matt Keen, 38, of New Wanstead, who was told by police that they caught up with a group of suspected bike thieves on their way to the subway.
He said: “When I called the council to ask if they could check CCTV I was told there wasn’t any.
“If there had been CCTV in the underpass we might have been able to establish if they were the same people responsible for the theft.”
A neighbour of Mr Keen, who did not want to be named, was mugged while walking through the underpass in December, and fellow New Wanstead resident Cliff Hill, 76, also wants to see cameras installed.
He said: “About three months ago a man threatened to stab my dog because it barked at him.
“It was quite scary and I am a bit worried about bumping into him again.
“It is quite a lonely place and I wouldn’t want my wife to go down there alone.
“CCTV would be good. It could act as a deterrent.”
A total of 179 crimes were recorded within a half-mile radius of the roundabout in May, the vast majority on the south side.
A spokesman for the council said: “Someone did discuss the issue of CCTV being put in place in the underpass, but they were advised to take the matter up with their local ward councillor."
Mr Cryer is now waiting for response to his letter but is warning campaigners not to get their hopes up.
“CCTV isn’t a magic wand, but anything that makes people feel safer is good.” he added.
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