London Borough of Lewisham



The London Borough of Lewisham is a London borough in south-east London, England and forms part of Inner London. The principal settlement of the borough is Lewisham. The local authority is Lewisham London Borough Council and it is based in Catford.

The Prime Meridian passes through 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 2001 census, Lewisham has a population of 248,922. It's 66% white and 34% BME. Fifty percent 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 first great 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:
 * Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany
 * Antony, Hauts-de-Seine, France
 * Matagalpa, Nicaragua

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:


 * Alan Milner Smith, OBE, Town Clerk (9 December 1971)
 * Frederick William Winslade, Esq., JP, appointed OBE for services to local government in Lewisham and Camberwell New Year Honours 1967 and CBE for services to local government in Lewisham Birthday Honours 1978 (28 November 1975)
 * Daisy Amelia Elizabeth Hurren (10 October 1985)
 * Alfred Anderson Hawkins (30 March 1990)
 * The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu (4 May 1990)
 * Terry Waite, CBE (16 November 1992)
 * The Reverend Sybil Theodora Phoenix, MBE, MS [Medal of Service, Co-operative Republic of Guyana] (8 March 1996)
 * Dame Cicely Saunders, OM, DBE (10 March 2000)
 * James Leslie Hicks ('Les') Eytle (8 June 2007)

Wards
The London Borough of Lewisham is divided into 18 wards, first used in the 2002 elections, they are:
 * Bellingham
 * Blackheath
 * Brockley
 * Catford
 * Crofton Park
 * Downham
 * Evelyn
 * Forest Hill
 * Grove Park
 * Ladywell
 * Lee Green
 * Lewisham Central
 * New Cross
 * Perry Vale
 * Rushey Green
 * Sydenham
 * Telegraph Hill
 * Whitefoot

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 others. The previous wards and areas were:

London Borough Council
Unlike in most English districts, Lewisham's council is led by a directly-elected mayor. The system was established at the 2002 council elections, and has now run for three mayoral elections, all of which Steve Bullock has won for the Labour party. The current number of councillors after the last local election is Labour 40, Liberal Democrats 12, Conservative 2 and Green Party 1.

Westminster Parliament
The borough includes the constituencies of Lewisham Deptford, Lewisham West 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 the 23 May 2010, serving, 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. From 2015, Surrey Canal Road is planned to open, providing a link to Clapham Junction.

DLR stations

 * Deptford Bridge – on the border between Lewisham and Greenwich.
 * Elverson Road – on the border between Lewisham and Greenwich.
 * Lewisham

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 Lewisham's big roundabout by Lewisham station has postponed it.


 * CS4 - Runs along Deptford's Evelyn Street (A200). Will operate between Woolwich and Tower Bridge. Due to open in 2015
 * CS5 - Runs from New Cross Road at New Cross Gate station to Victoria via Camberwell and Vauxhall. Opens in 2013

Main roads

 * A2 from the border with Old Kent Road in the west to Kidbrooke in the east.
 * A20 from New Cross to the border with Eltham in the east.
 * A21 from Lewisham to the border with Bromley in the south.
 * A202 from New Cross Gate to the border with Peckham in the west.
 * A205 (South Circular Road) passes through the centre of the borough from the border with Dulwich in the west to Eltham in the east. Except for a short section in Lee as it approaches Eltham, it is purely a one-lane-each-way road.

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%.

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.