London Borough of Lewisham

History

The borough was formed in 1965, by the London Government Act 1963, as an amalgamation of the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Lewisham and the Metropolitan Borough of Deptford, which had been created in 1900 as divisions of the County of London.

Minor boundary changes have occurred since its creation. The most significant amendments were made in 1996, when the former area of the Royal Docks in Deptford was transferred from the London Borough of Greenwich.

Geography

The borough is surrounded by the Royal Borough of Greenwich to the east, the London Borough of Bromley to the south and the London Borough of Southwark to the west. The River Thames forms a short section of northern boundary with the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Deptford Creek, Pool River, River Quaggy and River Ravensbourne pass through the borough. Major landmarks include All Saints Church in Blackheath, the Citibank Tower in Lewisham, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Church (Sydenham's German Church, technically located in Forest Hill), the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill and Millwall F.C. are based in the borough, their stadium The Den being located in South Bermondsey.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, Lewisham has a population of 275,885, is 53% white and 47% BME, and 43% of households are owner-occupiers.

Motto

The motto of the borough is "Salus Populi Suprema Lex", which means (roughly translated) "The welfare of the people [is] the highest law."

Administration

The current Chief Executive is Barry Quirk. The borough is administered by the four directorates of the council: Children and Young People, Community Services, Customer Services, and Resources & Regeneration.

Twinning

The borough is twinned with the following towns:

The borough has also signed a "friendship link" with Ekurhuleni, near Johannesburg, South Africa.

Freedom of the Borough

The honour of Freedom of the Borough has been awarded to:

Wards

The London Borough of Lewisham is divided into 18 wards, first used in the 2002 elections, they are:

Previous wards

Previously the borough was divided into 26 wards and 6 areas, used for elections from 1978 to 1998. Some of these former wards had the same names as the present wards, but their borders were different. When the wards were revised for 2002, some became larger, absorbing parts of other previous wards, the number of wards changed from 26 to 18. The previous wards and areas used from 1978 to 1998 were:

London Borough Council

Lewisham's council, unlike most English councils, is led by a directly-elected mayor. The first mayoral election was in 2002 and was won by the Labour Party candidate, Steve Bullock, who was re-elected in 2006, 2010 and 2014. Following the 2014 council elections, there are 53 Labour Party councillors and one Green Party councillor.

Westminster Parliament

The borough includes the constituencies of Lewisham Deptford, Lewisham West and Penge and Lewisham East.

These are the MPs who have represented constituencies covered by the borough since its formation in 1964. Note that constituencies change their boundaries over time, even where names remain the same.

Transport

Lewisham station, once known as Lewisham Junction, is located at the junction of the lines to Dartford and Hayes, and is also the terminus of the southern branch of the Docklands Light Railway.

The East London Line (on the London Underground network) terminated at New Cross and New Cross Gate until December 2007. An extension to this line opened on 23 May 2010, serving Brockley, Honor Oak Park, Forest Hill, and Sydenham. This forms part of the London Overground network.

The South London Line runs along the extreme North West of the borough, at present there are no stations that are within the borough. There is a proposal for a new station at New Bermondsey providing a link to Clapham Junction.

DLR stations

London Underground

There are no Tube stations in the borough, as the East London Line is now part of London Overground. However, Lewisham Council and Network Rail would like the Bakerloo line extended from Elephant & Castle to Lewisham and Hayes.

Cycling

Two Cycle Superhighways will operate through Lewisham in the future. CS5 was originally intended to run to Lewisham but New Cross gyratory and the Lewisham station junction have caused this to be postponed.

Main roads

Travel to work

In March 2011, the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: train, 18.6% of all residents aged 16–74; driving a car or van, 11.2%; bus, minibus or coach, 11.2%; underground, metro, light rail, tram, 9.7%; on foot, 4.3%; work mainly at or from home, 2.8%; bicycle, 2.6%.

48% of households in the borough are car free, compared to 42% across Greater London.

Sport and leisure

Millwall F.C. is based in The Den in the New Cross area.

The Borough has a Non-League football club Lewisham Borough F.C. who play at the Ladywell Arena, in Catford.