As local public bodies worked tirelessly to ‘reclaim the streets’ following riots and civil unrest this week, questions emerged over the extent to which deep-rooted youth disaffection with society contributed to this week’s shocking violence.

As The MJ went to press, London’s police and councils were discussing plans to tackle a potential fourth night of violence and looting. Authorities away from London were focused on preventing their communities from falling victim to a contagion of youth violence not witnessed since 1981.

Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham all reported serious disturbances this week, while the situation in London soured further after a man shot in Croydon on 8 August later died in hospital.

Police had arrested more than 700 people by the afternoon of 9 August, and were promising a firm response as over-stretched forces, councils, community leaders and residents worked around the clock to identify local perpetrators.

Prime minister, David Cameron, and London mayor, Boris Johnson, returned from their respective holidays on 9 August – to criticism about their perceived languid response to the crisis – and immediately doubled the number of active police officers in London to 16,000. Mr Cameron also recalled Parliament for an emergency debate on 11 August. Ministers’ and council leaders’ initial priority became the restoration of order across cities – particularly a capital in which half of London’s boroughs experienced unrest.

Home secretary, Teresa May, said the immediate priority was to treat the disturbances as a law and order issue – and to identify, and bring to justice, criminals.

Councils, meanwhile, were aiding hundreds of local businesses attacked across their localities, and assisted families forced out of their homes by arsonists.

Housing minister, Grant Shapps, said he had contacted ‘all relevant local authorities to offer help and assistance to those made homeless’. Communities secretary, Eric Pickles, attended emergency Whitehall meetings, alongside representatives from the Local Government Association, designed to co-ordinate the Government’s response. DCLG sources said he expected to announce a financial support package for affected councils.

But longer-term, local and national government will face questions over their delivery of traditional community cohesion programmes, particularly those focused on youth within Britain’s deprived areas. Much of the initial violence in London centred on areas of high deprivation or unemployment. Many have been hit hard by local government cuts – and have ditched key youth services.

But local leaders warned residents, politicians and commentators against ‘knee-jerk’ reactions on underlying causes. Claire Kober, leader of Haringey LBC, where the violence erupted on 6 August, told The MJ a range of social factors may have contributed to the violence and looting. But she made it clear that ‘some of this is simply mindless criminality’.

‘I’d warn against any knee-jerk reactions and theorising – that’s not in anybody’s interests. If you look at Tottenham, there was a clear event [the police shooting of local man Mark Duggan last Thursday which preceded the violence last Saturday.

‘It started as a peaceful vigil and march. Yes, Tottenham and Haringey face a range of social issues. Youth unemployment is higher now than for a generation, the Education Maintenance Allowance was scrapped, and there have been changes to the finance regime for students.

‘But I don’t know if any of these are contributing factors,’ she said.

Some experts have suggested cuts to local youth services may have contributed to rioters’ dissatisfaction. But Enfield LBC has not cut youth services – yet still suffered successive nights of violence. Sir Steve Bullock, directly-elected mayor of Lewisham, warned critics against labelling all youngsters in deprived areas as criminals. ‘The vast majority of our young people – including those who are not in education, employment or training (Neets) – are good, hard-working citizens. I’m not going to have them painted as a negative force in our community,’ he said.

Mayor Jules Pipe, directly-elected mayor of Hackney and chair of London Councils, acknowledged, however, there were likely to be ‘deeper-rooted’ issues to tackle.

Cllr Tom Neuberger, member for Camden Town at Camden LBC, scene of local looting, told The MJ: ‘The restoration of law and order are primary concerns.

‘But, we must also ask tough questions about the problems in our society – and how to tackle them. One question is, “What gives all residents a voice, a representation”? Government does youth services delivery quite well, but it doesn’t do “listening” very well. We have to look again at the issue of preventative work – what day-to-day things bring our communities together?’