A man continues to climb into a Falcon Road building where children live in fear, while Wandsworth Council and the police have spent almost a year telling residents to call each other instead of taking action.
Video from Wednesday afternoon shows the man scaling a street sign pole to reach a first-floor balcony with boarded-up windows. He does not have a key to the building. As residents watched and filmed, one father wrote in their WhatsApp group: “He’s very dangerous, man. My kids so scared.”
The incident occurred the same day Putney.news published an investigation documenting months of failures at the property on Fownes Street in Battersea. Council leader Simon Hogg and cabinet member Aydin Dikerdem (Housing) did not respond to requests for comment on that story. Wednesday’s climbing incident – captured on video – demonstrates the problem is continuing despite, and possibly because of, their inaction.
When residents contacted the council’s Community Safety Officer, he replied within minutes telling them to “call 999” because the individual “shouldn’t be in the area.” But when police arrived, they told residents they couldn’t stop him.
“Police came and confirmed they can do nothing about it and there is no injunction that can stop him from coming around the premises,” resident Elisa reported. “They stated quite literally that it seems that the council is not doing its job and tries to put the problem on the police.”
The video confirms what residents have been describing: individuals associated with a tenant in the building regularly climb into the property bypassing the security door. The building’s smashed front windows remain boarded up with wooden panels.
In an email to Battersea MP Marsha de Cordova sent after the incident, resident Michele described the situation: “This sort of ‘blame game’ between the council and the police has been ongoing for months.”
Michele has asked the MP to organise a meeting with residents, police, council representatives, and Hogg “to clarify the roles of each party involved.” The MP has not yet responded.
Wednesday saw worried residents trying to work out which agency to call. After the council officer told them to contact police, Michele asked: “Can you call the police? You can show them the email from [the council officer] to the officers.”
Later: “He [the council officer] just replied again making it clear he shouldn’t be in the area.”
But when police arrived, they said something different. According to Elisa: “Police called me saying the person has now left. When I asked them if they were certain they said no.”
The climbing and prowling continues despite both agencies engaging with the problem. The council deployed a camera to monitor the property, though officials later admitted that “a tree branch got in the way” and it wasn’t able to capture any usable video.
The problems have persisted since January. Residents pushed Wandsworth Council to open an anti-social behaviour case – which they did but then closed even while several issues remained unresolved. A planned visit to the flat never happened. Other actions from the review were redacted and residents were never told if they were completed, including an issue with an aggressive dog.
Michele submitted a Stage 2 formal complaint to the council in October, stating: “The Council has yet to agree on a clear timeline or action plan to address the ongoing problems. I strongly believe that the ASB case should not have been closed.”
Neither the council nor police have taken action to stop the individual from returning. Both agencies respond when contacted. Neither resolves the problem. And residents’ children remain scared.
Just imagine if one of these agencies actually did their job or one of their employees showed some proactivity…