This campaign has now ended
We won! Westminster Council issued a press release at the beginning of November 2011 confirming that they would not take forward their proposed byelaw to ban soup runs and rough sleeping in Victoria. Housing Justice welcomed this news with a press release. Part of the credit must go to the Soup Run Forum members who agreed to move their soup runs out of the Westminster Cathedral area to other locations.
Update 25th May
Public Consultation
Westminster council has now published the results of its public consultation on the byelaw proposing to make rough sleeping and soup runs illegal in Victoria. View their report here.
Some progress
The good news is that the proposal to make rough sleeping an offence has now been shelved. This follows intensive lobbying from Housing Justice and just about everyone working to help homeless people.
As far as the soup run ban is concerned the arguments are more finely balanced. Although a majority of people who responded to the consultation were not in favour of this proposal WCC says that the majority of local residents are in favour of a ban.
Ongoing negotiations
A meeting took place on Saturday 21st May between Westminster Councillor Daniel Astaire, local residents and businesses, representatives of the Soup Run Forum and HJ Director Alison Gelder and Soup Run Forum Coordinator Ellie Schling. The plan agreed at that meeting was for all parties to work toward a voluntary agreement, which includes soup runs being willing to move to in door venues in the Victoria area. If progress can be made voluntarily then WCC says it will drop the proposed byelaw.
Housing Justice continues to oppose the proposed byelaw which we feel is simply not the right approach, and offends against common sense and common decency. We don’t believe that people stay on the street because they are offered a free sandwich, and we believe that our energies should be going into improving services – hostels, drop in centres and outreach services - so that no one would choose to sleep on the street. Soup run volunteers and churches have much to offer in complementing statutory services, strengthening the quality of the safety net for the most vulnerable.
Westminster Council Meeting on 20th July
The plan over the next few weeks is to work together on helping soup run volunteers to link up with churches, hostels and day centres in Westminster to create new indoor services. Westminster Council has a meeting on 20th July. If it does decide to proceed with the byelaw it must be approved by a vote at that meeting.
Update 3rd May – Mixed Messages
Housing Justice understands from Westminster Council that the Conservative Group plans to go ahead with the byelaw banning rough sleeping and soup runs in Victoria, although we have also been told that they would prefer to negotiate a non-legislative solution. More than 500 responses were received in the public consultation which closed on March 25th, and these are being analysed.
The next step has to be a vote at the full Council meeting on July 20th (not 4th May as originally planned). If WCC does vote at that meeting to proceed the byelaw has then to be approved by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. However Westminster Councillor Daniel Astaire has written to us to say that he would like to meet with members of the Housing Justice Soup Run Forum and others to explore alternatives to the by-law. Watch this space for further news.
In view of Westminster Council's determination to see their byelaw through, we need to continue to make our voices heard against the ban. Our first move has been to issue a second press release on 7th April.
Do please also:
Lobby a Westminster Councillor – especially if you are a Westminster resident or work in the borough. It is crucial we make sure Councillors know the level of public opposition to the by-law before they vote. Please see our guide to lobbying your Councillor and the list of Councillors' surgeries. You can also find your Councillor on the Westminster Council website or call Westminster Council on 0207 641 3411.
Background Information
On 24th February 2011, Westminster Council started a consultation on a proposed byelaw which would make rough sleeping and the distribution of free food illegal in the Victoria area. Read the proposed byelaw consultation letter here >>
We urge you to respond to the consultation, using the papers supplied by Westminster council - the draft byelaw, the boundary map, FAQs (Westminster's own).
Please note: the consultation is now closed
Our response, initially, was a press release on 25th February. We followed this up with a position statement as well as our alternative FAQs - a response to Westminster's own FAQs.
On Sunday 20th March we were involved in a flashmob outside The Department of Communities and Local Government. This was followed by a 'Picnic' on Westminster Cathedral's Piazza, a tremendously successful event, with stalls distributing free food and two bands injecting a party atmosphere to proceedings and hundreds attending.
Here are some pictures of the Picnic and the video of the flashmob.
Other than the present page, you can follow progress on our thinking and actions on facebook and on twitter. We have posted a campaign proposal on the 38 degrees campaigning website – please follow the link and vote for the campaign!
Please sign the Open Letter!
On 17th March, we published an Open Letter in the Guardian, expressing our concern at the proposed byelaw.
See our open letter on The Guardian website for details, as well as for signatories, including Liberty, the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, Church Action on Poverty, the Methodist Church in Britain and many more!
To sign the open letter, please email g.cruls@housingjustice.org.uk See a pdf of the Open Letter.
