Fuller, Heather

From: Fuller, Heather Sent: 17 November 2015 08:50 To: Ward, Lucy Subject: FW: ward boundary review

Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged

Categories: In progress

From: Roger Giess [mailto Sent: 16 November 2015 20:27 To: reviews Subject: Re: Southwark ward boundary review

Further to my earlier email, I need to correct a slight error in our submission over the intended boundary between the proposed North and Burgess Park wards. The part of FAR1 that is to be placed in our proposed Burgess Park was incorrectly described. A further 451 electors should have been included with the 625 placed in a ward with FAR2,3 and 4. These are electors living south of a line from Walworth Road through the centre of Liverpool Grove then through Faraday Gardens to Portland Street. This combined area of 1,076 electors is the Church Commissioners' Walworth Estate which we would not want to split.

We are proposing to balance this by switching from Burgess Park to North Walworth the 509 current electors in EWL4 at addresses north west of a line from through the middle of Surrey Square to the western end of the polling district. This confirms our intention that East street should be within a single ward, North Walworth.

Apologies for our error and the confusion.

Roger Giess

On Mon, Nov 16, 2015 at 3:03 AM, Roger Giess > wrote: Please find attached the submission of Southwark Borough Council Lib Dem group to the consultation on warding arrangement for the borough of Southwark.

I would be grateful if you could acknowledge receipt.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any queries or if we can assist in any way.

Roger Giess

1

2 Southwark Borough Council Liberal Democrat Group Local Government Boundary Commission for England review of warding arrangements for Borough of Southwark Southwark Council Lib Dem Group submission

Introduction

This is the submission of Southwark Borough Council Liberal Democrat Group to the LGBCE review of warding arrangements for the London Borough of Southwark. New ward boundaries are needed as 7 of the current 21 wards vary from the average electorate by more than 10% and this situation will grow worse by 2021.

Following consultation on council size the LGBCE has recognised the broad consensus for retaining a council of 63 members. We are therefore proposing a warding scheme for Southwark for a 63 member council with a mix of 1, 2 and 3 member wards. We have used the local knowledge of the many members of the Lib Dem council group, past and present, from all parts of the borough to draw up these proposals. We are confident that they respect local community ties well and provide for convenient local government in line with the statutory criteria. We have been able to use many of the natural boundary lines of Southwark's built environment.

Current Position

The review has been triggered by imbalances in ward electorates. This imbalance results from extensive residential development in the north of the borough, leading to oversized wards in the north and undersized wards in the south. Part of this is the conversion of commercial/office land uses to residential use. Another element relates to major regeneration schemes on social housing estates. These strong trends will continue so that electorates are forecast to rise in the north and parts of the centre of the borough, notably in (in CAT1), Elephant & Castle (CAT3, 4 and 5), (SDO2 and ROT2), parts of (GRN1 and RIV5) and the Aylesbury Estate (FAR3). The lack of comparable development in the more suburban south of the borough means these wards are now becoming unacceptably over-represented, despite their essentially static electorates.

The nature of this recent and anticipated development is that certain geographically very small areas which currently have small electorates will see new residential developments of considerable scale and density. In the most extreme cases, polling District CAT1 is forecast to see a doubling of its local electorate from under 2,500 to over 5,000 by 2021 while Polling District SDO2 is projected to increase from under 1,000 to over 3,000 as the Canada Water Masterplan development is built out. The same is the case with the estate regenerations in EW1 (the Heygate/Elephant Park) and FAR3 (the Aylesbury Estate). Any ward including such sites will inevitably be significantly overrepresented on the 2014 electorate figures, before this new building, or be significantly under represented afterwards. We have accommodated this in our scheme.

Given the LGBCE's statutory criteria and stated practice we are proposing a warding arrangement that ensures no ward will be outside the 10% tolerance by the time the 5-year horizon is reached - indeed all will be within 5% by 2021. However our scheme also ensures that electoral imbalances will significantly reduce in time for the next scheduled borough council elections in 2018. We have matched our proposed new wards against the schedule of anticipated development provided by the borough council that informed the 2021 electorate projections. Using this we calculate that by 2018 around half our new wards will be within 4% of the average while only 3 of our 26 proposed wards will be outside the 10% range (Elephant & Castle East, Burgess and Surrey Docks). In all three cases they will remain a little undersized until the identified major building schemes are completed a year or two later.

We understand that the borough council itself is not making a formal submission on warding arrangements. A cross-party group agreed the submission for a 63-member council but this group has not attempted to produce a warding arrangement. However, council officers have made available to us the schedule of anticipated developments to 2021 that have informed the electorate projections provided to the LGBCE. However, it does not appear to have been possible to provide the electorate numbers for the particular month's register used for council's reported base electorate for 2015. Therefore where we have split current polling districts we have had to use current street electorates as a base rather than the figures the LGBCE has for 2015. The variance is generally a few percent lower across the whole borough. With the Council's technical assistance we have been able to correctly match future developments from the schedule to the correct part-polling district. We are therefore confident that any variation is very minor and broadly consistent across all wards in the borough. This appears the only practical way to propose wards that split current polling districts. As polling districts are designed to very different criteria than wards we consider it inevitable that a new warding arrangement will involve splitting current polling districts. We are grateful for the Council's technical assistance in getting our calculations as strong as they can be in the time allowed. We would be happy to provide further information about our methodology if needed, but we are clear that this is a marginal point in terms of the final scheme.

We set out in the following pages our proposed new wards.. Bankside and Borough Northern parts of Cathedrals and Chaucer, those parts of Grange and Riverside wards west of Shad Thames/ Road. This is the north west corner of the borough around Blackfriars Rd and . The northern part of Cathedrals ward is Bankside and includes the southern entrance to Blackfriars station, , The Globe Theatre and parts of the . There is a Business Improvement District covering this area and also Borough High Street - but not any further east. A separate BID operates around . This is Southwark’s parts of central London's "Zone 1" travel area and is identified in the council’s planning policy as its “Central Activities Zone” to distinguish it from areas to the east. It is the scene of recent and projected major residential building, much of it the conversion of former commercial premises to house those who want easy access to the City immediately across the river. Much of this area is part of the historic "Old Southwark" referred to in the name of the Parliamentary Constituency. In considering the best pattern of wards here we first considered whether there should be a ward crossing the A3 (Borough High Street) at this point. We have decided against this. Firstly because there is the right electorate within the current Cathedrals ward to account for 5 councillors without the need to cross the main road. Also we were not convinced that Borough High St acts as a strong focus for residents from each side of the road rather than marking a clear dividing line. Much of the commercial activity on the A3 here is for the large daytime population working nearby, but living elsewhere, rather than local residents. In any case that commercial activity largely ceases south of Borough tube station where the road is a clear split of communities. There is a break in residential development around /Southwark Cathedral at Tower Bridge Rd as there are only a tiny number of electors in the area around . We know of few if any community groups identifying specifically as “Borough” that cross the road to unite east and west of the A3 here. “Borough” is typically associated with the western side and linked with Bankside as in the BID. We next considered the wards on the eastern side of Borough High Street. We consider the the A100 (Tower Bridge Rd), to form a natural boundary from the central Bermondsey area to the east which has a much clearer residential character. For example, Tower Bridge Road marks the eastern edge of the “Central Activities Area” used in Planning policy to identify Southwark’s central London zone. The Team London Bridge Business Improvement District also runs east only to Tower Bridge Road. However it does run south of the railway line to include parts of Snowfields. Also a Strategic Cultural Area is identified by the council’s planning officers to run along the riverside to the Shad Thames area and down Bermondsey Street, to the south of the railway line. This reflect the array of bars and restaurants that characterise both areas since both are of a similar mixed commercial/residential nature. marks something of an end point for these characteristics. However it is not a complete break. Gardens Estate includes blocks on both sides of Long Lane. Similarly there are estates in the large tenant-managed JMB that operates here on both sides of Long Lane. Chaucer ward already straddles Long Lane. We therefore considered that a ward could satisfactorily straddle Long Lane to reflect the ties in housing management arrangements. But the areas’ differing natures means it should not do so beyond what was needed to reflect this point. We therefore propose a Bankside & Borough ward formed from the part of Cathedrals ward north of Borough Road/Webber St. It will be 4% below average electorate in 2021 and elect 3 members. We propose a new 2-member London Bridge ward comprising the more commercial western parts of Riverside ward south of Tooley St and west of Tower Bridge Road. It will be 1% below average electorate by 2021. The boundaries of the ward are natural, comprising major roads (Borough High Street and Tower Bridge Rd) and the River Thames. To the south the boundary would run along Long Lane but leave out the estates and blocks west of Weston St and south of Newcomen Street with the related housing to the south. To the south would be a revised 2-member Chaucer ward 1% below average electorate and including that housing north of Long Lane to which its residents have established ties. This ward would extend south to a line running along Harper Road, Falmouth Road and . We consider residents south of this line are likely to have stronger ties to Elephant & Castle than to the area to the north.

However, we would not want to see Walworth lose councillors with a clear focus on established residential areas and their town centre along the Walworth Road and East St. We are therefore cautious about extending an Elephant & Castle-based ward too far to the south along Walworth Road into Walworth. We have also found when modelling possible scheme that extending an Elephant & Castle ward further into EWL1 polling district made it difficult to settle wards for the rest of Walworth without splitting the Aylesbury Estate which is spread across FAR2,3 and 4. The small development at Searles Rd in EWL3 is accessible only from New Kent Rd, and should be included in a Elephant & Castle ward. Although it will mean a slightly indistinct boundary line, in practice it is understood by residents as the limited road access divides the area already and it is also the postcode boundary between SE1 and SE17. Clearly it is not possible to include all the Elephant & Castle area in a single ward. The natural division in the area is along the A3 - one of the major routes into London that has run through this area for centuries. We therefore propose 2 wards electing 2 councillors each, Elephant & Castle East (2% over) and Elephant & Castle West. (1% over).

We propose a new 2-member Bricklayers ward (5% below average). This ward is bordered by the major thoroughfares of Tower Bridge Rd on the west,the old Kent Rd on the south and Grange Rd / Rd on the north. It is mostly made up of major council estates - the Harold and Swan Mead and Peabody Housing in the west and the Setchell and Longfield estates to the east. These latter two estates sit on either side of Dunton Rd and share a tenants hall and so it is sensible to bring them together in the same ward. Residents use the same transport links of the buses either from the Old Kent Rd or Southwark Park Rd. Bricklayers Arms was a long ago demolished coaching inn that gave its name to the road junction near the end of Old Kent Road. More particularly the branch railway line that ran from through much of this area ended in a major rail goods depot, the Bricklayers Arms Depot. After the closure of the branch its route has been developed into the retail estate at Mandela Way and new housing that is in this proposed ward. Until the 1999 review there was a ward covering the bulk of this area called Bricklayers. We suggest this as the name for our new ward here. We propose a revised 2-member South Bermondsey ward which joins those parts of Livesey north of Old Kent Road as far as the railway line (polling districts LIV2 and LIV6) with almost all of polling districts SBE3 and 4 of the current South Bermondsey. It will be 2% below average electorate. This ward will therefore include South Bermondsey train station which the current South Bermondsey ward does not. The Avondale Estate in SBE3 is a City of London Estate and the City of London Academy is in SBE4. It makes good community sense to keep these two polling districts together so the school remains in the ward with the residents it was built to serve. Bringing residents on both sides of Rotherhithe New Road together into the same ward is sensible as they share the P12 and 381 bus routes along this road (to travel to shop at ) the Links Community Centre and the parade of shops by the station. They also both look to the transport corridor of the Old Kent Road more than the A2200. We believe this will be welcomed by residents in LIV2 and LIV6 who were vociferous in earlier boundary reviews which placed them outside a Bermondsey ward and then outside a Bermondsey-based Parliamentary constituency. Rotherhithe The remainder of Rotherhithe ward, Surrey Docks ward and Polling District LIV1 of Livesey north of the London Bridge Kent railway.

Rotherhithe is the north east corner of the borough, to the east of Southwark Park and north of the London Bridge-Kent railway line. This was Southwark's principal docklands. The vast majority of Surrey Docks ward has been developed since the late 1980s, as it was previously working docks, with large expanses of water. In the centre is a man-made woodland area, which forms an important amenity and a dividing line between Rotherhithe and Surrey Docks wards. Current plans are for the re- development of the leisure and retail sites at Canada Water that will see not only homes for over 3,000 new electors, but also a reworked town centre.

We have already proposed that those parts of the current Rotherhithe ward west of Southwark Park/Kings Stairs Gardens should be in a Bermondsey ward. We also propose that that part of Livesey ward north of the railway line should be joined with the ROT4 polling district. These both include homes on the southern eastern side of Rotherhithe New Road and the Silwood Estate straddles both.

Adding to this the current Surrey Docks ward gives a 2021 electorate of 23,240 - exactly right for 6 councillors. We propose two 3-members wards based on the current Rotherhithe and Surrey Docks wards, both equal to the borough average electorate. To achieve that around 1,500 electors need to be transferred from Surrey Docks to Rotherhithe. We have considered many options here. In particular we considered options that would place the whole of the Canada Water development area in one ward. There are nearly 3,000 prospective electors coming into SDO2 and around 600 in ROT2. This is a large number and we have not been able to develop a credible option that keeps all these together without splitting established communities in unconvincing ways. We would also be concerned that this will leave one of the two wards with a very low electorate by the 2018 elections. In any case the newly redeveloped Canada Water area will act as the major town centre for the whole Rotherhithe area so it can be presumed there will be ties between the development area and any new wards here.

Instead we propose to transfer roads off Lagado Mews in SDO2. These streets flow from, and provide access to, homes in ROT2 around Timber Pond Rd/Deck Close. On the northern side of this a new development is already being built that will largely fill the gap between Lagado Mews and the next development (roads off Globe Pond Road). There is then a gap in development for the footpath across Salter Road to Nelson Dock Pier. We propose transferring these electors (projected at 1,029 by 2021) from Surrey Docks to Rotherhithe. The area proposed for transfer has much in common with Rotherhithe ward. It is centred around Bacon’s College – a secondary school. Much of the housing was developed at the same time as neighbouring Rotherhithe homes and is similar in character. Residents are served by bus routes 381 and C10, which many use to access Rotherhithe Overground station and Bermondsey tube station, whereas most people in the great majority of Surrey Docks ward use either Surrey Quays Overground station or Canada Water tube station. Additionally we propose transferring the 580 electors living south east of Plough Way to the borough boundary in SDO3 from Surrey Docks. This area is unlike the rest of SDO3 as it does not look to Greenland Dock and South Dock Marina but relates to Lower Rd. Residents there have close ties with Rotherhithe ward electors in ROT4 who use the facilities and transport links where Plough Way meets Lower Road. The revised Surrey Docks remains almost entirely residential. The parts which are not, around Quebec Way in SDO2, are the areas to be developed as new residential. The majority of the housing is low-rise (up to four storeys). The social housing in the area is mainly provided by housing associations, the number of council provided properties being low. It contains the largest marina in London, with a number of permanent residents, plus other unique features like the Surrey Docks urban farm. In contrast the revised Rotherhithe ward contains a diverse range of housing, including some large council estates, plus much newer developments around Canada Water, which tend to be more high rise than the rest of the area. It contains the main retail provision – Surrey Quays Shopping Centre – plus Surrey Quays and Rotherhithe Overground stations and Canada Water tube station, as well as the adjoining bus station and nearby library. Walworth Newington, Faraday and East Walworth wards An established residential area south of Elephant & Castle between Old Kent Road, Burgess Park and the borough boundary with Lambeth. Walworth Rd and East St act as the area's High Street, with commercial activity also on Old Kent Rd. The major regeneration schemes at Elephant & Castle are being levered to improve Walworth Road, but it also retains its own identity. The huge Aylesbury Estate runs along the north side of Albany Rd facing Burgess Park. It is also undergoing major regeneration, explaining the huge projected growth in polling district FAR3. The imperative of keeping the whole estate in one ward was the rationale for the unusual shape of the current East Walworth ward here. We have already proposed that a small part of NEW1 be included in an elephant & Castle ward. This brings 3-member Newington down to within 1% of the target elctorate and we propose no further changes. Its eastern border runs all the way along Walworth Road which is a very clear boundary that we want to sustain. Faraday ward is 7% below target, which is in the acceptable range but we think a more even distribution of electors is possible. Having transferred part of the north of Walworth East to an Elephant & Castle ward it now needs to be realigned with Faraday. East Street marks the boundary between East Walworth and Faraday. East Street is part of Walworth’s town centre and there is commercial activity on both sides. In particular it houses a famous market running from Walworth Road to Dawes St that can be traced back to the 16th century. The market currently serves as a ward boundary although it is clearly a uniting feature that draws people from across Walworth. We see no need to continue with this part of East St as a ward boundary. We therefore propose a revised Faraday ward that takes polling districts EWL4 and EWL5. However it loses polling district FAR1 (streets off East St) save for roads south of Trafalgar St and East of Portland St. This will ensure the market is contained within a single ward. It also ensures that the new Faraday ward continues to contain the whole of the huge Aylesbury Estate. By including EWL5 the new Faraday includes all of Burgess Park. We consider this north/south division a clearer division of the area than the current arrangement with East Walworth wrapping round Faraday. We would name the northern ward Walworth North (2% below average elector- ate). The southern ward loses Faraday Gardens so we would drop the name Faraday. Walworth South is a simple option. Our preferred choice is Burgess Park reflecting the large open space, all of which is included in the ward. Indeed a number of residents live in and around the park in Addington Square and around Trafalgar Avenue neither of which identify as Walworth. It will be 2% over the borough average electorate and elect three members.

We would then transfer the northern polling districts of The Lane ward (TLN1 and TLN2) to what is now ward. This area includes the bulk of the modern town centre south of the High Street, including the Ayelsham shopping centre and most of the major retail offer, the Peckhamplex cinema, the Harris Academy and railway station itself. This would make the Peckham ward the clear modern town centre ward for Peckham. We would name it Peckham North, but with these changes it would not be wrong to leave it as Peckham. It would be 4% over the average with 3 members. For ward we would replace the lost NUN1 polling district with TLN5 and that part of TLN4 that lies east of Peckham Rye. This would provide for a much stronger boundary at Peckham Rye and ensure that the Nunhead landmarks described earlier are in Nunhead ward. It will be 1% below average electorate and have 3 members. The rest of The Lane (TLN3 and 4) and SCA4 are a network of Victorian terraces clearly bounded by East Rd to the south, the railway to the north and west and Peckham Rye to the east. We consider this to be a southern Peckham residential district large outside the town centre (save for the north east corner). Unlike streets to the north of Peckham Rye station this area is distant from the transport routes and shops along Peckham High Road. It is instead focused on the local shops and cafes along Bellenden Rd between Danby St/Maxted St and Chadwick Rd and served by the P13 bus that runs along it. We propose it be named Peckham South. It will be equal to the average electorate by 2021 and elect 2 members. Finally, we can propose retaining the 3-member Peckham Rye ward. There is limited flexibility here given the geography of the borough boundary. Peckham Rye park has an active friends group and we consider it a major feature that defines and unites the residential areas around it. All this area is some distance from any town centre giving the area a fairly lose affiliation to any surrounding town centre. Some parts have closer ties to communities over the borough boundary in Lewisham such as Honor Oak Park than anywhere in Southwark. While it can seem a little disparate we are not aware that there has been any great difficulty with the functioning of the ward. We are proposing that 933 electors in COL5 around the Dawson Heights Estate in College ward where the boundary is already indistinct be added to Peckham Rye (and explained later) but otherwise no change. It will be 1% below average electorate by 2021. of this area identifies as Dulwich and it includes the Village, , Dulwich Park and Dulwich College. We suggest two changes to ensure better electoral equality. The boundary between COL5 and Peckham Rye ward is poorly delineated. It was in fact a late amendment to accommodate equalised electorates rather than reflecting a strong community or physical dividing line. We would amend this so that Peckham Rye includes the Dawson Heights estate and the nearby area. The boundary would run along Underhill Rd and then along Belvoir Rd and then along the southwestern side of the estate and the open space to the north of it to Dunstan’s Rd. We also propose putting Mount Adon Park and homes south west of the Dawson Heights area on the north side of Overhill Rd and east side of Lordship Lane into . We consider this a slightly tidier boundary for the three wards and it facilitates good electoral equality. Dulwich ward will then be less than 3% above the average electorate by 2021.

Proposed New Southwark Wards

Electorate Variance Bankside & Borough 2021 3 Councillors CAT1 5,169 CAT2 3,492 CAT4 north of Borough Road 3,678 Total 11,129 -4% The proposed new ward is bounded by the River Thames in the north, Borough High Street on the east, the boundary roads with the London Borough of Lambeth on the west and Webber Street, Lancaster Street,King James Street and Borough Road in the south. Three of these boundaries (north, east and west) are the existing boundaries of the current Cathedrals ward and are natural and established boundaries. The area to the the north of includes the current and historic Bankside area, which is a mix of residential (old wharfs, social housing and new builds), large office buildings, cultural (Tate Modern & Globe), historic Southwark (Southwark Cathedral and Borough Market) and restaurants, bars and cafes. South of Southwark Street is more residential in nature but include smaller businesses, 4 primary schools, retail and licensed establishments and green spaces (Nelson Square, Mint Street). An application for a new mixed secondary school on the site of the former Southwark Fire Station is being consulted on currently and if successful is proposed to open in September 2017.

The majority of the proposed ward is covered by the existing Business Improvement District (BID), Better Bankside, and the proposed Neighbourhood Plan area of Bankside. The area is well served by public transport with Waterloo and London Bridge stations sitting to the west and east of the ward, Southwark tube on Blackfriars Road and bus routes running along all the main roads.

Electorate Variance London Bridge 2021 2 Councillors RIV1 west of Tower Bridge Road 635 RIV2 2,201 GRN1 east of Weston St and north of Newcomon St/Snowsfields 3,419 GRN2 west of Tower Bridge Road 1,423 Total 7,678 -1% The proposed London Bridge ward runs from the riverside in the north to Long Lane in the south and from Borough High St in the west to Tower Bridge Rd in the east. The boundaries of the ward are natural, comprising major roads and a river.

This area comprises a coherent and growing community including Shad Thames and is a mix of converted warehouses, new apartments and social housing. It also includes the shopping thoroughfares of Bermondsey St and Tooley St and the redeveloped London Bridge Station, King College London and Guys Hospital. These residents are served by major bus routes along Tower Bridge Rd and though London Bridge Station, as well as the underground and mainland railway. Although the railway line runs through the ward, it is crossed by 5 roads within the space of just a few hundred metres. This proposed ward is already included in a separate area action plan from the Business Improvement District, Team London Bridge. Electorate Variance Chaucer 2021 2 Councillors CHC1 2,626 CHC4 2,553 CHC5 1,252 GRN1 west of Weston St and south of Newcomon St/Snowsfields 804 CHC3 west of Falmouth Rd AND CHC3 north of Gt Dover St 379 Total 7,614 -1% The revised Ward uses some very natural and profound boundaries in Borough High Street to the West and Tower Bridge Road to the East, ensuring that all of the Tabard Gardens Estate remains in the new ward together with the Trinity Newington Estate “Trinity Village” and the Haddonhall and Decima Street Tenant Management Organisations. This keeps local communities together

The northern boundary of Newcomen Street, Snowsfields and Weston Street brings the Leathermarket JMB estates now in Grange Ward together with the Decima Street part of Leathermarket JMB.

The drawing of the ward very much mirrors the West Bermondsey area which used to be represented by the West Bermondsey Community Forum which took in these areas. The inclusion of Bermondsey Square – the small triangle in the most easterly part of the proposed ward - keeps together those small parts of the Decima Street Estate which are on Bermondsey Street, and recognises the natural community boundary that is the Tower Bridge Road.

Electorate Variance Elephant & Castle West 2021 2 Councillors CAT5 3,487 CAT3 3,080 CAT4 south of Borough Road 1,210 Total 7,776 1% The proposed ward of Elephant & Castle West is bounded by the boundary roads with the London Borough of Lambeth of Morley Street, King Edward Walk, Lambeth Road, Kennington Road on the west and Brook Drive on the south, Newington Causeway, the and Newington Butts on the east and Webber Street, Lancaster Street,King James Street and Borough Road in the north. The area has been part of the southern part of the current Cathedrals ward since the last ward boundary changes. It is one half of the Elephant and Castle Opportunity Area and an important part of the current Elephant and Castle regeneration area.

The area is predominantly residential with a mixture of street properties and the historic West Square in the southern section and social housing estates and existing and proposed new builds in the northern section. The proposed ward has 3 primary schools, a secondary girls school and is home to London South Bank University.

Although the area currently has a very limited offer in regards to retail, restaurants, cafes and bars it is adjacent to the existing Elephant & Castle shopping centre and part of the regeneration area that will deliver a substantially increased retail and leisure offer. The area also includes 2 significant cultural institutions in the form of the , which sits in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, and the Ministry of Sound nightclub. It will also be home to the Castle Leisure Centre, which should open in early 2016. The area has excellent public transport links with tube and railway stations at the Elephant and Castle, including the Bakerloo entrance within the the proposed ward, and bus routes along the main roads (St George's Road, London Road, Elephant & Castle, Blackfriars road and Waterloo Road. Electorate Variance Elephant & Castle East 2021 2 Councillors CHC2 3,222 CHC3 EXCEPT west of Falmouth Rd and north of Gt Dover St 1,332 EWL1 north of Wansey St 1,912 EWL2 between Rodney Place/Rodney Rd, Balfour St, New Kent Rd 491 including addresses in John Maurice Close and Baytree Mews EWL3 addresses in Searles Road (all accessed from New Kent Rd) 210 NEW1 north of Hampton St (Draper Estate and Castle House) 694 Total 7,860 2% The ward unites communities at Elephant & Castle to the west of the A3, including the Rockingham Estate and the area around the Ark Globe Academy currently in Chaucer and the Elephant Park development in East Walworth. Strata Tower (in Newington) is already a landmark residential tower at the Elephant. The regenerated town centre at Elephant & Castle is becoming the focus for leisure, shopping and transport in this part of the borough. This new ward recognises this new pattern of local ties.

Electorate Variance Riverside 2021 3 Councillors RIV1 east of Tower Bridge Road 393 RIV3 2,749 RIV4 2,137 RIV5 4,046 ROT5 1,512 ROT 1 west of Kings Stairs Gardens 348 Total 11,186 -3% Riverside is centred around Bermondsey tube station and Jamaica Road. It has St James' Church, the largest local landmark, and the site of two GP surgeries and St James' Primary School at the heart of the ward and the community. The west boundary at St Saviour's Dock is an obvious boundary as the large dock is a physical barrier which comes right up to the main road. The eastern boundary runs at the green spaces of Kings Stairs Gardens (north of Jamaica Road) and Southwark Park (South of Jamaica Road). The southern boundary is the railway line. It brings together estates of a similar character off Southwark Park Rd, the main transport route through the area.

Electorate Variance South Bermondsey 2021 2 Councillors LIV2 2,035 LIV6 841 SBE4 2160 SBE3 south of Rolls Rd 2572 Total 7,608 -2% Livesey Ward has always been an anomaly, being split between its Peckham identity and the other side of the Old Kent Road. Our new South Bermondsey Ward includes its Bermondsey parts up to the railway and parts of the current South Bermondsey ward. South Bermondsey train station is in this ward (but is not in the current South Bermondsey). The City of London Academy is in SBE4 was built with the City of London’s Avondale Estate in SBE3 in mind is so it makes good community sense to keep these two polling districts together. Bringing residents on both sides of Rotherhithe New Road together into the same ward is sensible as they share the P12 and 381 bus routes, the Links Community Centre and the shops by the station and on the Old Kent Road. Electorate Variance Grange 2021 2 Councillors GRN2 east of Tower Bridge Road 1,738 GRN3 north of Grange Rd 688 GRN4 north of Grange Rd 211 GRN5 3,389 SBE1 north of Southwark Park Rd 613 SBE1 west of Camilla Rd 663 Total 7,301 -5% This proposed ward includes most of the old Grange Ward between the railway line and Grange Rd / Southwark Park Rd. This includes major council estates - Neckinger, St Saviours, Purbrook, Rouel Rd, Vauban and brings together Rouel Rd estate into one ward - having been previously split between Grange and S Bermondsey. There is also a large amount of new private apartments around Spa Gardens, Spa Rd, Grange Walk and Grange Rd. Residents across the proposed ward use the same transport links of the 1 bus and Bermondsey Tube station. This ward also includes Maltby St market and The Blue market used by old and new residents alike. It crosses Southwark Park Rd at Bermodsey town centre to include residents who share the SE16 post code.

Electorate Variance Bricklayers 2021 2 Councillors GRN3 south of Grange Rd 1,774 GRN4 south of Grange Rd 1,707 SBE1 south of Southwark Park Rd and west of Camilla Rd 868 SBE2 2,763 SBE3 north of Rolls Rd 250 Total 7,362 -5% This proposed ward contains communities in the heart of Bermondsey. It is bordered by the major thoroughfares of Tower Bridge Rd on the west, the old Kent Rd on the south and Grange Rd / Southwark Park Rd on the north. It is mostly made up of major council estates - the Harold and Swan Mead and Peabody Housing in the west and the Setchell and Longfield estates in the east. These latter two sit on either side of Dunton Rd and share a tenants hall and so it is sensible to bring them together in the same ward. Residents use the same transport links of the buses along old Kent Rd or Southwark Park Rd and health facilities at Alscot Rd in the centre of the ward.

Electorate Variance Surrey Docks 2021 3 Councillors SDO1 2,378 SDO2 south of Bacon’s College 2,718 SDO3 except part south of Plough Way and west of Yeoman Rd 2,263 SDO4 1,953 SDO5 2,296 Total 11,608 0% Surrey Docks is almost entirely residential, the majority of which is low-rise (up to four storeys). The social housing in the area is mainly provided by housing associations, the number of council properties being low. The vast majority of the ward has been developed since the late 1980s, as it was previously working docks, with large expanses of water. In the centre is a man-made woodland area, which forms an important amenity. It contains the largest marina in London, with a number of permanent residents, plus other unique features like the Surrey Docks urban farm. Lower Road forms a natural boundary to the south of the ward Electorate Variance Rotherhithe 2021 3 Councillors LIV1 769 ROT1 east of Kings Stairs Gardens 1,623 ROT2 2,919 ROT3 2,959 ROT4 1,753 SDO2 north of Bacon’s College 1,029 SDO3 south of Plough Way/west of Yeoman St 580 Total 11,632 0% The revised Rotherhithe ward excludes ROT5 and other areas to the west and south of Southwark Park plus LIV1 from Livesey ward. The latter has more in common with current ROT4 and the remainder of the general Rotherhithe area. The proposed ward contains a diverse range of housing, including some large council estates, plus much newer developments around Canada Water, which tend to be more high rise than the rest of the ward. It contains the main retail provision – Surrey Quays Shopping Centre – plus Surrey Quays and Rotherhithe Overground stations and Canada Water tube station, as well as the adjoining bus station and nearby library.

Electorate Variance Newington 2021 3 Councillors NEW1 except part north of Hampton St 2,417 NEW2 2,738 NEW3 2,621 NEW4 2,125 NEW5 1,808 Total 11,801 1% A slightly amended Newington ward that loses only the Draper Estate and Strata Tower which are more properly included in an Elephant & Castle ward. The boundaries are very strong - the borough boundary with Lambeth to the west, the major highway of Walworth Rd to the east and John Ruskin St which has few routes to the south.

Electorate Variance Burgess Park 2021 3 Councillors FAR1 south of Trafalgar St and east of Portland St 625 FAR2 1,496 FAR3 4,361 FAR4 2,632 EWL5 851 EWL4 1,880 Total 11,845 -2% This is the successor ward to Faraday. It includes the whole of the Aylesbury Estate and the whole of Burgess Park and the streets around it. East St market will no longer be split between wards. Electorate Variance Walworth North 2021 2 Councillors EWL1 south of Wansey St 2,183 EWL2 except between Rodney Place/Rodney Rd, Balfour St, New Kent 1,894 Rd also excluding addresses in John Maurice Close and Baytree Mews EWL3 except addresses in Searles Rd (accessed from New Kent Rd) 2,030 FAR1 except electors south of Trafalgar St and West of Portland St 1,491 Total 7,598 -2% This ward contains the whole of East St market and much of Walworth Road. All this area identifies as Walworth. It has a strong eastern and western boundary at Walworth Road and Old Kent Road. It leaves out the development of Elephant Park and other areas facing New Kent Road that have strong ties to Elephant & Castle - or can be expected to have once settled in the new homes. It is more compact than the current East Walworth which has to stretch around Faraday ward to Burgess Park.

Electorate Variance West 2021 3 Councillors CAM1 1,994 CAM2 2,715 CAM3 2,078 CAM4 west of Camberwell Road/Camberwell Green 1,916 CAM5 3,098 Total 11,801 2% A slightly amended Camberwell Green ward. It loses those parts of CAM4 to the west of the main road. This reunites the D’Eynesford Estate. To the west and south the ward runs to the borough boundary, To the north the road network largely cuts this ward off from Newington ward with only one road link.

Electorate Variance Brunswick Park 2021 3 Councillors BPK1 2,853 BPK2 2,573 BPK3 1,835 BPK4 2,889 CAM4 east of Camberwell Rd/Camberwell Green 617 TLN1 west of centre of Talfourd Road 536 Total 11,303 -2% This is a slight amendment to the current ward. It reunites the D’eynsford Estate by Camberwell Green. A few roads opposite Camberwell’s South London Gallery are taken from The Lane to provide for better electoral equality. Electorate Variance South Camberwell 2021 2 Councillors SCA1 2,606 SCA2 1,075 SCA3 1,526 SCA5 2,629 Total 7,836 1% A amended South Camberwell ward that loses the polling district east of the railway line, which fits better in a south Peckham ward.

Electorate Variance Friary 2021 3 Councillors LIV3 except that part west of Peckham Hill St 1,871 LIV4 2,082 LIV5 2,649 PEC1 2691 PEC2 east of Peckham Hill St 533 NUN1 2,377 Total 12,203 5% A Peckham ward with a mix of large estates and victoria terraces to the north-east of the town centre. It has strong boundaries of Old Kent Road, Peckham Hill St, the borough boundary and Queen’s Rd.

Electorate Variance Peckham North 2021 3 Councillors PEC2 except that part east of Peckham Hill St 1,634 PEC3 2,360 PEC4 1,833 PEC5 1,991 LIV3 west of Peckham Hill St 113 TLN1 except part west of Talfourd Rd 1,445 TLN2 2,641 Total 12,017 4% The current Peckham ward, expanded to includes the large majority of the town centre and major amenities of Peckham including its shopping centre, cinema, Academy and railway station at Peckham Rye. It contain central Peckham streets that look to the transport corridor along Peckham High Street. Electorate Variance Peckham South 2021 2 Councillors TLN3 3,151 TLN4 except that part east of Peckham Rye 2,463 SCA4 2073 Total 7,687 0% A residential area of old terraces south of Peckham town centre and focused on the amenities of Bellenden Road. It has strong boundaries of the railway to the west and north, East Dulwich Road to the south and Peckham Rye to the west. It has an excellent electoral equality for 2021.

Electorate Variance Nunhead 2021 3 Councillors TLN5 2,985 NUN2 2,128 NUN3 2,720 NUN4 2,221 NUN5 1,255 TLN4 east of Peckham Rye 106 Total 11,415 -1% A revision of the current Nunhead ward to focus it more closely on the Nunhead community. It loses the areas north of Queen’s Rd with no real connection to Nunhead. It gains TLN5 which includes significant parts of the Nunhead community including Nunhead Green, Nunhead library and the Old Nin’s Head itself. It ensures all of the Nunhead town centre protected by Council planning policy is within the Nunhead ward.

Electorate Variance Peckham Rye 2021 3 Councillors PKR1 2,654 PKR2 2,192 PKR3 1,933 PKR4 1,657 PKR5 2,103 COL5 including area contained within Underhill Rd to Belvoir Rd to sw 933 side of the Dawson’s Heights Estate to Dunstan’s Rd Total 11,472 -1% A continuation of the Peckham Rye ward with a slight enlargement to provide for a neater boundary with the Dulwich wards and better electoral equality. The facilities of the park unite the communities which have fairly loose ties to any of the surrounding areas. Electorate Variance East Dulwich 2021 3 Councillors EDL1 2,054 EDL2 2,608 EDL3 1,735 EDL4 2,050 EDL5 1,694 VIL4 1,490 COL5 area between Upland Rd, the sw edge of the Dawson’s Heights 240 Estate, Overhill Rd and Lordship Lane Total 11,870 2% An expansion of East Dulwich ward to include VIL4. This is an area with close ties to the town centre at Lordship Lane. Grove Vale, Goose Green and East Dulwich Rd provide a strong northern boundary, the railway is a strong western boundary and Townley Rd is a strong marker between East Dulwich and . It also provides for a scheme with good electoral equality for the other Dulwich wards.

Electorate Variance 2021 1 Councillor VIL1 2,188 VIL2 1,698 Total 3,886 1% This single member ward contains the part of Southwark that identifies as Herne Hill, SE24. The Herne Hill town centre straddles the borough boundary with Lambeth. It is separated from Dulwich Village by the railway line and would be a ward with strong boundaries and a strong sense of its own identity.

Electorate Variance Dulwich 2021 3 Councillors COL1 967 COL2 2,257 COL3 619 COL4 2,412 COL5 except for those parts north of a line from Lordship Lane to 1,758 Overhill Rd, Belvoir Rd and Underhill Rd to the Peckham Rye boundary VIL3 2,316 VIL5 1,569 Total 11,898 3% This ward brings together the Dulwich community. It contains Dulwich Village, Dulwich Park, Dulwich Picture Gallery and Dulwich College. It does not contain VIL4 which looks to the separate town centre at East Dulwich or VIL1 and VIL2 which identify as Herne Hill.