A community-led approach to tackling youth crime, following a spate of violent attacks in recent months, was agreed at a crunch summit on Monday.

Community campaigners will once again join forces with Lambeth Council to try to reduce gun and knife crime among young people.

Lambeth Council leader, Councillor Steve Reed, said the plans, which include creating a community trust to clamp down on youth crime – represent a “radical” new approach to the issue.

He said: “What is happening with youth crime on our streets is absolutely unacceptable.

“The incidents that have happened over the last few months, particularly the attacks on young people, have terrified the community. We want to get moving with this new approach as soon as possible. The message from the community is ‘let us lead’.”

Politicians, police and community leaders met on Monday at the Lambeth Violent Crime Reduction Summit to revise the strategy.

The plans include:

  • Boosting the number of apprenticeships for young people
  • Employing mentors to coach the most vulnerable youths
  • Establishing better parental support for children
  • Creating career links with companies in London.

The council hopes to secure £100,000 from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to help fund the proposals, which it will match with a further £100,000. Coun Reed said the funding should be confirmed by September 1.

But the money may not be enough following cuts of £11.85m to the council’s children and youth services budget, including a £250,000 reduction to the youth offending team budget alone.

Speaking about the cuts, Coun Reed said: “It is difficult to do this when the Government keeps slashing the budgets that are available.

“We have been very careful to protect our own youth services funding.”

On Lambeth’s new strategy, he said: “This is the council and the community coming together to tackle the violence. There is a responsibility on all of us to keep Lambeth safe and give young people a chance. If we do not feel we own the problem, we won’t be able to find an answer. We think that the young people can look at the borough as a whole and tell us what activities are helping and what things are not. The people who will understand the best course of action are the victims of violent crime.”

The summit comes after a 20-year-old man was shot in Black Prince Road, Kennington, last Tuesday. Six more people were killed by gunmen in the past year.

The number of crimes committed in Lambeth has fallen steadily since March, but rapes and murders have risen.

According to statistics compiled by police.uk, there were 250 violent crimes in Lambeth during May 2011.

The council held a similar youth crime summit in 2008. It pledged to reduce the number of attacks in the borough through investing an extra £1.75m in youth services, creating a new intelligence gathering unit to target young offenders, and developing a seven-day timetable for Lambeth youth clubs.