| London borough | |
|---|---|
_(zoom).svg) The thirty-two London boroughs inEngland | |
| Category | Local authority districts |
| Location | Greater London |
| Created by | London Government Act 1963 |
| Created |
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| Number | 32 |
| Possible types |
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| Possible status |
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| Populations | 150,000–400,000 |
| Areas | 12–150 km2 |
| Government |
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| This article is part ofa series within the Politics of the United Kingdom on the |
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UK General Elections in England |
TheLondon boroughs are the current 32local authority districts that together with theCity of London make up the administrative area ofGreater London, England; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at the same time as Greater London on 1 April 1965 by theLondon Government Act 1963 (c. 33) and are a type of local government district. Twelve were designated asInner London boroughs and twenty asOuter London boroughs. TheCity of London, the historic centre, is a separate ceremonial county andsui generis local government district that functions quite differently from a London borough. However, the two counties together comprise the administrative area ofGreater London as well as the LondonRegion, all of which is also governed by theGreater London Authority, under theMayor of London.
The London boroughs have populations of between 150,000 and 400,000. Inner London boroughs tend to be smaller, in both population and area, and more densely populated than Outer London boroughs. The London boroughs were created by combining groups of former local government units. A review undertaken between 1987 and 1992 led to a number of relatively small alterations in borough boundaries. London borough councils provide the majority of local government services (schools, waste management, social services, libraries), in contrast to the strategicGreater London Authority, which has limited authority over all of Greater London.
The councils were firstelected in 1964, and acted as shadow authorities until 1 April 1965. Each borough is divided intoelectoral wards, subject to periodic review, for the purpose of electing councillors. Council elections take place every four years, with themost recent elections in 2022, andthe next elections due in 2026. Thepolitical make-up of London borough councils is dominated by theConservative,Labour andLiberal Democrat parties. Twenty-eight councils follow theleader and cabinet model of executive governance, while five havedirectly elected mayors (Croydon,Hackney,Lewisham,Newham, andTower Hamlets). The City of London is instead governed by theCity of London Corporation (and theInner andMiddle Temples, which are not governed by the City of London Corporation).
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There are four boroughs that do not have "London Borough" in their official names: theCity of Westminster, and theRoyal Boroughs of Kingston upon Thames, Kensington and Chelsea, and Greenwich.
From the mid-1930s, the Greater London area comprised four types of local government authorities. There werecounty boroughs,municipal boroughs,urban districts andmetropolitan boroughs. The large county boroughs provided all local government services and held the powers usually invested in county councils. The municipal borough and urban district authorities had fewer powers. The situation was made more complex because county councils could delegate functions such as elementary education and library provision to the municipal borough and district councils, and this was implemented piecemeal. Reform of London local government sought to regularise this arrangement.
TheRoyal Commission on Local Government in Greater London was established in 1957 and the report was published on 19 October 1960. It proposed 52 "Greater London Boroughs" with a population range of 100,000 to 250,000.[1] This was made up of a mixture of whole existing units, mergers of two or three areas, and two boroughs formed as the result of a split. In December 1961 the government proposed that there would be 34 boroughs rather than 52, and detailed their boundaries. The proposed number was further reduced to 32 in 1962.
On 1 April 1965, the 32 London boroughs andGreater London were created by theLondon Government Act 1963. Twelve boroughs in the former County of London area were designatedInner London boroughs and the 20 others were designatedOuter London boroughs. Outer London borough councils werelocal education authorities, but Inner London borough councils were so designated primarily to continue the existence of anInner London Education Authority, praised by official Opposition and government who further noted that unusually the former County of London's many small local authorities had no history of providing education. TheCity of London continued to be administered by theCity of London Corporation, and theInner andMiddle Temples continued to govern their own areas.[note 1]
Elections were held on7 May 1964, with the new councils acting as shadow authorities before coming into their powers the following year.
The boroughs were created as follows. Some relatively minor changes have been made to the boundaries of boroughs since 1965, and two have changed their names.
Between 1965 and 1986 the boroughs were part of a two-tier system of government and shared power with theGreater London Council (GLC). The split of powers and functions meant that the Greater London Council was responsible for "wide area" services such as fire, ambulance, flood prevention, and refuse disposal; with the London borough councils responsible for "personal" services such as social care, libraries, cemeteries and refuse collection. Several London borough councils and the GLC were involved in therate-capping rebellion of 1985. On 1 April 1986 the GLC was abolished and the borough councils gained responsibility for some services that had been provided by the Greater London Council, such aswaste disposal. TheInner London Education Authority continued to exist as anad hoc authority. In 1990 it was abolished and the Inner London borough councils also became local education authorities.
TheLocal Government Act 1972 provided a mechanism for the name of a London borough and its council to be changed. This was used by the London Borough of Hammersmith (changed to Hammersmith and Fulham) on 1 April 1979 and the London Borough of Barking (changed to Barking and Dagenham) on 1 January 1980. Borough names formed by combining two locality names had been discouraged when the boroughs were created.
The London boroughs were created by combining whole existing units of local government and it was realised that this might provide arbitrary boundaries in some places. The London Government Act 1963 provided a mechanism for communities on the edge of Greater London to petition for transfer from London boroughs to a neighbouring county district.[2] This was used in 1969 in the transfers ofKnockholt in Bromley to Kent, and ofFarleigh andHooley in Croydon to Surrey. The Act also provided for transfers between London boroughs and neighbouring counties where there was consensus for the change between all the relevant local authorities. This provision was used to exchange two islands on theRiver Thames between Richmond upon Thames and Surrey. (SeeList of Greater London boundary changes.)
TheLocal Government Boundary Commission for England was established by the Local Government Act 1972 to review periodically the boundaries of Greater London and the London boroughs. The first review of boundaries commenced on 1 April 1987 and reported in 1992.[3] Following the review a series of relatively minor adjustments were made to borough boundaries, for example uniting the whole of theBecontree estate inBarking and Dagenham. The commission noted that many of its recommendations were strongly opposed and were not implemented. The boundary of the City of London with adjacent boroughs was adjusted to remove some anomalies.[4]
The London boroughs were incorporated using the provisions of theMunicipal Corporations Act 1882.[5] In the London boroughs the legal entity is not the council, as elsewhere in the country, but the inhabitants incorporated as a legal entity byroyal charter (a process abolished elsewhere in England and Wales under theLocal Government Act 1972). Thus, a London authority's official legal title is "The Mayor andBurgesses of the London Borough of X" (or "The Lord Mayor and Citizens of the City of Westminster").[6]
In 2000 theGreater London Authority was created, comprising theMayor of London and theLondon Assembly. As a strategic authority, it absorbed only limited powers, such as major highways and planning strategy, from the borough councils.
The London boroughs are administered by London borough councils (sometimes abbreviated LBCs), which are elected every four years. They are the principallocal authorities in London and are responsible for running most local services, such as schools, social services, waste collection and roads. Some London-wide services are run by theGreater London Authority, and some services and lobbying of government are pooled withinLondon Councils. Some councils group together for services such aswaste collection and disposal. The boroughs arelocal government districts and have similar functions tometropolitan boroughs. Each borough council is alocal education authority.
| Service | Greater London Authority | London borough councils |
|---|---|---|
| Education |  Y | |
| Housing | Y | Y |
| Planning applications | Y | |
| Strategic planning | Y | Y |
| Transport planning | Y | Y |
| Passenger transport | Y | |
| Highways | Y | Y |
| Police | Y | |
| Fire | Y | |
| Social services | Y | |
| Libraries | Y | |
| Leisure and recreation | Y | |
| Waste collection | Y | |
| Waste disposal | Y | |
| Environmental health | Y | |
| Revenue collection | Y |
Shared services are borough council services shared between two or more boroughs. Shared services were previously resisted due to councils guarding their authority. However, as the need for budget cuts in the late 2000s became apparent some councils have sought service mergers.[7] Westminster and Hammersmith & Fulham were due to merge their education services, including school admissions and transport, by 2011.[8] In October 2010,Hammersmith & Fulham,Kensington & Chelsea andWestminster announcedplans to merge all their services to create a "super-council". Each would retain its own political identity, leadership and councillors but staff and budgets would be combined for cost savings.[9] Lambeth and Southwark likewise expressed an interest in sharing services.[10]
The management thinker and inventor ofthe Vanguard Method, ProfessorJohn Seddon, claims that shared service projects based on attempts to achieveeconomies of scale are a mix of a) the plausibly obvious and b) a little hard data[clarification needed], brought together to produce two broad assertions, for which there is little hard factual evidence.[11] He argues that shared service projects fail (and often end up costing more than they hoped to save) because they cause a disruption to the service flow by moving the work to a central location, creating waste in hand-offs, rework and duplication, lengthening the time it takes to deliver a service and consequently creatingfailure demand (demand caused by a failure to do something or do something right for a customer).[12] Seddon referred directly to the so-calledtri-borough shared services in an article in 2012.[13]
The Municipal Corporations Act 1882 shall apply to every London borough
The municipal corporation of a borough shall [...] (a) in the case of a borough being a city, the mayor of which is entitled to bear the title of lord mayor, bear the name of the lord mayor, aldermen and citizens of the city; (b) in the case of any other borough being a city, bear the name of the mayor, aldermen and citizens of the city; and (c) in the case of any other borough, bear the name of the mayor,' aldermen and burgesses of the borough.
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