Great news from the Mayor of London this morning; he is to keep his promise – believed forgotten – to provide extra funding for London’s sole Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre in Croydon as well as funding several new projects.
This morning he made the announcement on LBC and London.gov.uk posted the press release, saying:
”When elected, Mayor Boris Johnson pledged to open three new centres and provide extra funding for the capital's only existing service in Croydon. By working together with London’s boroughs he has now delivered on this commitment…”
New centres will appear in North and West London, with Ealing Rape Crisis Centre launching on April 1st, followed by projects from Islington and Westminster councils soon.
When you look at the kinds of amounts involved to set up a centre - £375,000 from the Mayor’s funding and additional support from Ealing Council for the West London centre – it seems heartbreaking that a huge city like London has had to get by with one centre working its fingers to the bone to provide for all until now.
These are not, in the grand scheme of things, huge amounts, and with International Women’s Day events springing up the world over it’s a positive step to be able to say that local government groups across the UK capital are starting to respect the urgent need for women’s services.
It would, of course, be much better news to say that these centres were not needed; however, while they are it is of vital importance for women across London that they will now be able to access critical help and support more freely at a tremendously difficult time.
Image via Boris Johnson's official website