Knife crime was listed as a top priority for Greenwich Council last night just an hour after a horrific double stabbing in the borough.

It comes after the council leader admitted cuts to Met officers should be a “concern to us all”, adding funding of resources will have to be looked at ahead of a controversial three-borough merger.

Cllr Dan Thorpe said tackling the increase in knife crime would be top on his agenda as he ran through the council’s four-year corporate plan.

The leader said the council had already established a knife crime charter, as well as an anti-knife crime taskforce.

“Everyone is concerned about knife crime,” Cllr Thorpe said, “We are working with partners across agencies to deal with the challenges we face – it’s not an easy one to tackle, it is one that will require everyone around the table moving forward.”

Earlier this year City Hall announced a probe into the increase in violence in London, especially focusing on the Mayor’s knife crime strategy and campaigns against violent crime.

Just an hour before the announcement was made to a scrutiny committee last night, two men were stabbed in Hevelius Close in Greenwich.

One man has been left fighting for his life, and the Met said no arrests have been made.

It comes as councillors expressed “concerns” over a controversial merger that will have Greenwich, Lewisham and Bexley police forces lumped together.

Scotland Yard says it will merge all of its policing boroughs in a bid to save £325m by 2021/22.

The merger is planned to “increase efficiencies” , though swathes of officers have been axed to the lowest levels in 20 years.

Peninsula councillor Chris Lloyd, chairman of last night’s scrutiny committee, pressed the leader over the impact the merger on services funded by the council.

He said: “Historically Greenwich has funded things like the violence and organised crimes units to tackle organised crimes but then we hear stories from across the borders such as in Bexley where there have been cuts to monitoring of CCTV.

“How do you and your cabinet members reconcile making sure Greenwich continues to be a safe place to work and live when we are funding police services that may not be limited to looking after residents in this borough, but stretched to boroughs were perhaps they don’t contribute in the same way this council does?”

The leader said the council has “real concerns” about the immediate changes across the capital, and funding of certain resources will be looked at again.

He said: “I was speaking to my safer neighbourhood team the other day who were walking down the road at half past nine at night because they didn’t have a car to ge there – that is the reality of the Metropolitan Police in 2018.

“Without a doubt we want to have bobbies on the street, but if you have officers walking to 999 calls as they are then that just can’t be right.

“We are doing what we can to monitor those arrangements and how they work locally, but we have less officers that we have before.

“In relation to the arrangements we are funding, that is a question we have asked the police. Those arrangements are due to come to an end and we need to take a view on how we proceed.

“We are funding resources for gangs and violent crimes, as well as domestic violence, and we need to make sure those resources are delivering for the borough.”