Council house
A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction was from 1919 after the Housing Act 1919 to the 1980s, with much less council housing built in recent decades. There were local design variations. House design in the United Kingdom is defined by a series of Housing Acts, public housing house design is defined by government directives and central governments' relationship with local authorities. From the first interventions in the Public Health Act 1875, council houses could be general housing for the working class, general housing, part of slum clearance programmed or just homes provided for the most needy, they could be funded directly by local councils, through central government incentive or by revenue obtained when other houses were sold. They have been transferred through the instrument of housing associations into the private sector.
Woolwich Borough Council was responsible for the Well Hall Estate designed for workers at the munition factories at Woolwich Arsenal. The estate and the house were built to the garden suburb philosophy: houses were all different; the estate received the royal seal of approval when, on Friday 24 March 1916, Queen Mary made an unannounced visit. A programme of council house building started after the First World War following on from the David Lloyd George’s government’s Housing Act of 1919. The'Addison Act' brought in subsidies for council house building and aimed to provide 500,000 "homes fit for heroes" within a three-year period although less than half of this target was met; the housing built comprised three-bedroom dwellings with parlour and scullery: larger properties include a living room. The standards are based on the Tudor Walters Report of 1919, the Design Manual written according to the 1913 building standards. In 1923 the Chamberlain Act withdrew subsidies for council houses except for private builders and houses for sale.
Councils could undertake to build houses and offer these for sale but to sell off some of their existing properties. This was reversed by the incoming Labour government of 1924; the Wheatley Act passed by the new Labour Government introduced higher subsidies for council housing and allowed for a contribution to be made from the rates. The housing revenue account was always separated from the general account; this was a major period of council house construction. The Housing Act 1930 stimulated slum clearance, i.e. the destruction of inadequate houses in the inner cities, built before the 1875 Act. This released land for housing and the need for smaller two bedroomed houses to replace the two-up two-down houses, demolished. Smaller three bedroom properties were built; the Housing Act 1935 led to a continuation of this policy, but the war stopped all construction, enemy action reduced the usable housing stock. PrefabsThe Housing Act 1944 led to the building of prefab bungalows with a design life of ten years.
Innovative steel-framed properties were tried in an attempt to speed up construction. A number survive well into the 21st century, a testament to the durability of a series of housing designs and construction methods only envisaged to last 10 years; the Burt Committee, formed in 1942 by the wartime government of Winston Churchill, proposed to address the need for an anticipated 200,000 shortfall in post-war housing stock, by building 500,000 prefabricated houses, with a planned life of up to 10 years within five years of the end of the Second World War. The eventual bill, under the post-war Labour government of Prime Minister Clement Attlee, agreed to deliver 300,000 units within 10 years, within a budget of £150m. Of 1.2 million new houses built from 1945 to 1951 when the programme ended, 156,623 prefab houses were constructed. New Towns Act housingMainly during the immediate post-war years, well into the 1950s, council house provision was shaped by the New Towns Act 1946 and the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 of the 1945–51 Labour government.
At the same time this government introduced housing legislation that removed explicit references to housing for the working class and introduced the concept of "general needs" construction. In particular, Aneurin Bevan, the Minister for Health and Housing, promoted a vision of new estates where "the working man, the doctor and the clergyman will live in close proximity to each other"; the Addison Act 1919 houses were three-bedroom houses with lounge and scullery, sometimes with a parlour. Some had two, four, or five bedrooms, as well as generously-sized back gardens intended for vegetable growing. At most they were built at 12 houses per acre, they were built to the recommendations of the Tudor Walters Report. Examples are found in Downham, Watling Estate, Becontree; the Addison Act 1919, the severe housing shortage in the early 1920s created the first generation of houses to feature electricity, running water, indoor toilets and front/rear gardens. However, until well into the 1930s, some were built with outdoor toilets.
Some did not feature an actual bathroom. The Chamberlain Act 1923 reduced the expected standards; the Wheatley Act 1924 attempted to restore some of them. Under the Addison Act, a house would be 1,000 square feet but after 1924 it would be 620 square feet; this was a major period of council house construction. With
Bexley London Borough Council
Bexley London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Bexley in the ceremonial county of Greater London, England. It is one of 32 London borough council in the county; the council comprises 45 councillors. It was envisaged through the London Government Act 1963 that Bexley as a London local authority would share power with the Greater London Council; the split of powers and functions meant that the Greater London Council was responsible for "wide area" services such as fire, flood prevention, refuse disposal. As an outer London borough council it has been an education authority since 1965; this arrangement lasted until 1986 when Bexley London Borough Council gained responsibility for some services, provided by the Greater London Council, such as waste disposal. Since 2000 the Greater London Authority has taken some responsibility for highways and planning control from the council, but within the English local government system the council remains a "most purpose" authority in terms of the available range of powers and functions.
In 2018, the number of council seats was reduced from 63 to 45. The local authority derives its powers and functions from the London Government Act 1963 and subsequent legislation, it is a billing authority collecting Council Tax and business rates, it processes local planning applications, it is responsible for housing, waste collection and environmental health. It is a local education authority, responsible for social services and waste disposal; the council shares responsibility with the Greater London Authority for strategic policies including housing and the environment. Bexley London Borough Council is the billing authority for Council Tax, collects a precepts on behalf of the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority the Greater London Authority and Transport for London. Since the first election to the council in 1964 political control of the council has been held by the following parties: The May 2018 elections returned a council composition of 34 Conservative Party and 11 Labour Party.
London Borough of Bexley – Official website
City of London Corporation
The City of London Corporation and the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United Kingdom's financial sector. In 2006 the name was changed from Corporation of London to avoid confusion with the wider London local government, the Greater London Authority. Both businesses and residents of the City, or "Square Mile", are entitled to vote in elections, in addition to its functions as the local authority – analogous to those undertaken by the 32 boroughs that administer the rest of the Greater London region – it takes responsibility for supporting the financial services industry and representing its interests; the corporation's structure includes the Lord Mayor, the Court of Aldermen, the Court of Common Council, the Freemen and Livery of the City. The rights and privileges of the City of London are enshrined in the Magna Carta’s clause 9 - as enumerated in 1297 - and, along with clauses 1 and 29, it remains in statute.
In Anglo-Saxon times, consultation between the City's rulers and its citizens took place at the Folkmoot. Administration and judicial processes were conducted at the Court of Husting and the non-legal part of the court's work evolved into the Court of Aldermen. There is no surviving record of a charter first establishing the Corporation as a legal body, but the City is regarded as incorporated by prescription, meaning that the law presumes it to have been incorporated because it has for so long been regarded as such; the City of London Corporation has been granted various special privileges since the Norman Conquest, the Corporation's first recorded Royal Charter dates from around 1067, when William the Conqueror granted the citizens of London a charter confirming the rights and privileges that they had enjoyed since the time of Edward the Confessor. Numerous subsequent Royal Charters over the centuries extended the citizens' rights. Around 1189, the City gained the right to have its own mayor being advanced to the degree and style of Lord Mayor of London.
Over time, the Court of Aldermen sought increasing help from the City's commoners and this was recognised with commoners being represented by the Court of Common Council, known by that name since at least as far back as 1376. The earliest records of the business habits of the City's Chamberlains and Common Clerks, the proceedings of the Courts of Common Council and Aldermen, begin in 1275, are recorded in fifty volumes known as the Letter-Books of the City of London; the City of London Corporation had its privileges stripped by a writ quo warranto under Charles II in 1683, but they were restored and confirmed by Act of Parliament under William III and Mary II in 1690, after the Glorious Revolution. With growing demands on the Corporation and a corresponding need to raise local taxes from the commoners, the Common Council grew in importance and has been the principal governing body of the City of London since the 18th century. In January 1898, the Common Council gained the full right to collect local rates when the City of London Sewers Act 1897 transferred the powers and duties of the Commissioners of Sewers of the City of London to the Corporation.
A separate Commission of Sewers was created for the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, as well as the construction of drains it had responsibility for the prevention of flooding. The individual commissioners were nominated by the Corporation, but it was a separate body; the Corporation had earlier limited rating powers in relation to raising funds for the City of London Police, as well as the militia rate and some rates in relation to the general requirements of the Corporation. The Corporation is unique among British local authorities for its continuous legal existence over many centuries, for having the power to alter its own constitution, done by an Act of Common Council. Local government legislation makes special provision for the City to be treated as a London borough and for the Common Council to act as a local authority; the Corporation does not have general authority over the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple, two of the Inns of Court adjoining the west of the City which are historic extra-parochial areas, but many statutory functions of the Corporation are extended into these two areas.
The Chief Executive of the administrative side of the Corporation holds the ancient office of Town Clerk of London. Because of its accumulated wealth and responsibilities the Corporation has a number of officers and officials unique to its structure who enjoy more autonomy than most local council officials, each of whom has a separate budget: The Town Clerk, the Chief Executive; the Chamberlain, the City Treasurer and Finance Officer. The City Remembrancer, responsible for protocol, security issues as well as legislative matters that may affect the Corporation and is qualified; the City Surveyor, provides guidance to combine the fund management of a major central London commercial property portfolio extending to over 16 million square feet of space, with the management of the City’s 600 operational properties stretching across Greater London, including Guildhall, The Mansion House, Central Criminal Court. The Comptroller and City Solicitor; the Recorder of London, the senior judge at the Central Criminal Court'Old Bailey', technically a member of the Court of Aldermen.
Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council
Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in Greater London, England. It is one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London, it provides a broad range of local government services including Council Tax billing, social services, processing planning applications, waste collection and disposal, it is a local education authority. Barking and Dagenham is divided into each electing three councillors. At the May 2014 election, the Labour Party won all 51 seats; the council was created by the London Government Act 1963 as the Barking London Borough Council and replaced two local authorities: Barking Borough Council and Dagenham Borough Council. The council was renamed on 1 January 1980; the next election to the authority will be in May 2018. There have been a number of local authorities responsible for the Barking and Dagenham area; the current local authority was first elected in 1964, a year before formally coming into its powers and prior to the creation of the London Borough of Barking on 1 April 1965.
Barking replaced Dagenham Borough Council. Both were urban district councils, with Barking Town Urban District Council replaced by Barking Borough Council in 1931, Dagenham Urban District Council replaced by Dagenham Borough Council in 1938; as Barking had urbanised first, it was governed by a local board of health from 1882, which became an urban district council in 1894. The parish of Dagenham was under rural administration until 1926, governed by Dagenham Parish Council and the Romford Rural District Council from 1894, it was envisaged through the London Government Act 1963 that Barking as a London local authority would share power with the Greater London Council. The split of powers and functions meant that the Greater London Council was responsible for "wide area" services such as fire, flood prevention, refuse disposal; as an outer London borough council it has been an education authority since 1965. This arrangement lasted until 1986 when Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council gained responsibility for some services, provided by the Greater London Council, such as waste disposal.
Since 2000 the Greater London Authority has taken some responsibility for highways and planning control from the council, but within the English local government system the council remains a "most purpose" authority in terms of the available range of powers and functions. The local authority derives its powers and functions from the London Government Act 1963 and subsequent legislation. Barking and Dagenham has the functions of a London borough council, it is a billing authority collecting Council Tax and business rates, it processes local planning applications, it is responsible for housing, waste collection and environmental health. It is a local education authority, responsible for social services and waste disposal; the council shares responsibility with the Greater London Authority for strategic policies including housing and the environment. The planning function for large developments is exercised by the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation in the London Riverside designated area, within the borough.
Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council is the billing authority for Council Tax, collects a precepts on behalf of the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority the Greater London Authority and Transport for London. The council has been controlled by the Labour Party since it was first elected in 1964
Local government in London
Local government in London takes place in two tiers. Citywide administration is coordinated by the Greater London Authority, while local administration is carried out by 33 smaller authorities; the Greater London Authority consists of two elected parts. They are the Mayor of London, who has executive powers, the London Assembly, who scrutinise the Mayor's decisions and can accept or reject his budget proposals each year; the GLA is responsible for strategic planning, the fire service, most aspects of transport and economic development. It is a recent organisation, having been set up in 2000 to replace the similar Greater London Council, abolished in 1986; the headquarters of the GLA and the Mayor of London is at City Hall. The current Mayor of London is Sadiq Khan, elected in 2016, replacing Boris Johnson, who served two terms. Health services in London are managed by the national government through the National Health Service, controlled and administered in London by a single NHS Strategic Health Authority called NHS London.
The 33 local authorities are the City of London Corporation. They are responsible for local services not overseen by the GLA, such as local planning, social services, local roads and refuse collection; the London boroughs each have a council made up from representatives from political parties and single issue organisations elected every four years by local residents The City of London does not have a conventional local authority, but is governed by the historic City of London Corporation, elected by both residents and businesses, which has existed more or less unchanged since the Middle Ages. The head of the Corporation is the Lord Mayor of the City of London, a different position from that of Mayor of London; the City of London has its own police force: The City of London Police, independent of the Metropolitan Police Service which covers the rest of Greater London. Within the City of London are two liberties, the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple, which are local authorities for most purposes to the present day.
City of London City of Westminster Kensington and Chelsea Hammersmith and Fulham Wandsworth Lambeth Southwark Tower Hamlets Hackney Islington Camden Brent Ealing Hounslow Richmond Kingston Merton Sutton Croydon Bromley Lewisham Greenwich Bexley Havering Barking and Dagenham Redbridge Newham Waltham Forest Haringey Enfield Barnet Harrow Hillingdon
The Independent Group
The Independent Group is a British pro-EU group of Members of Parliament founded in February 2019. Its seven founding members resigned from the Labour Party, citing their dissatisfaction with the Labour leadership's approach to Brexit and its handling of allegations of antisemitism in the party, they have since been joined by another MP who resigned from Labour, citing similar reasons, by three MPs who resigned from the Conservative Party, citing their opposition to that party's Brexit policies, a lack of concern within the party for the "most vulnerable in society", what they see as a right-wing takeover of the Conservatives. All members of the group support a second EU referendum, the group is considered to be centrist. In March 2019, the group announced that it had applied to the Electoral Commission to become a political party under the name Change UK – The Independent Group, with Heidi Allen as interim leader, in order to be able to stand candidates in the upcoming May 2019 European elections.
The group does not formally have a membership beyond the MPs themselves nor representation in other levels of government of the UK. However, several local councillors declared support for the group; the group was founded by Luciana Berger, Ann Coffey, Mike Gapes, Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Angela Smith and Chuka Umunna, who announced their resignations from the Labour Party on 18 February 2019. These founding members have been referred to as the "Gang of Seven" by some British commentators, in reference to the Gang of Four who split from the Labour Party to found the Social Democratic Party in 1981. Four of the number – Berger, Gapes and Leslie – were Labour and Co-operative Party MPs: they exited both parties. Announcing the resignations, Berger described Labour as having become "institutionally antisemitic", while Leslie said Labour had been "hijacked by the machine politics of the hard left" and Gapes said he was "furious that the Labour leadership is complicit in facilitating Brexit". Shuker and Leslie, as well as Joan Ryan who would join the following day, had lost votes of no-confidence brought by their constituency parties, while two motions of no-confidence against Berger had been withdrawn.
Umunna rejected the notion of any merger with the Liberal Democrats. On 20 February the Independent Group urged other MPs to join them. On the day of the group's launch, founding member Angela Smith appeared on the BBC's Politics Live programme, where she said, in a discussion about racism, that: "The recent history of the party I've just left suggested it's not just about being black or a funny tin... you know, a different... from the BAME community". The offending phrase was uttered, but was reported to be "funny tinge". Smith apologised shortly afterwards, saying, "I'm upset that I misspoke so badly." Commentators noted an irony given. On 19 February Joan Ryan announced her departure from the Labour Party, becoming the first MP to join after the group's formation. On 20 February 2019, three Conservative MPs left their party to join the group: Sarah Wollaston, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry, citing the handling of Brexit by the Prime Minister. In April 2019, former MPs Stephen Dorrell and Neil Carmichael left the Conservatives to support the Independent Group.
In February 2019, Labour councillors in over ten councils left the party and intend to align with The Independent Group. Two former Labour councillors in Brighton and Hove Council left the party to form their own independent group on 25 February, aligning with the Parliamentary group. There have been further resignations from the party by Labour councillors in Barnet, Derby, Salford and Stafford. With the Independent Group not a registered political party, it is unclear how many councillors support them, but many give the same reasons as the Labour MPs who left the party: alleged antisemitism in Labour, Corbyn's leadership and Brexit. In March 2019, the group announced that it had applied to the Electoral Commission to register as a political party under the name "Change UK – The Independent Group", in order to be able to stand candidates if the UK participates in the May 2019 European elections; the name has to be approved by the Commission. Heidi Allen was appointed interim leader, pending an inaugural party conference planned for September 2019.
Petitions website Change.org announced that it would challenge the branding, which it regarded as having "hijacked" its identity. On 19 February 2019, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn responded that he was "disappointed" at the MPs' actions. Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said that the Independent Group MPs had a "responsibility" to resign and fight by-elections, as they had been elected as Labour MPs and should seek the approval of the electorate for their new platform. Other Labour Party figures stressed reflection, with deputy leader Tom Watson imploring his party to change in order to stave off further defections. Jon Lansman, the founder of Momentum, said he had "personal sympathy" for Berger because of the "hate and abuse" she had suffered. However, the six other former Labour MPs were, in his opinion, malcontents opposed to Corbyn's leadership. On 19 February, Labour MP Ruth George, asked to respond to a Facebook comment suggesting the group's f
Bromley London Borough Council
Bromley London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Bromley in Greater London, England. It is one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London, it was envisaged through the London Government Act 1963 that Bromley as a London local authority would share power with the Greater London Council. The split of powers and functions meant that the Greater London Council was responsible for "wide area" services such as fire, flood prevention, refuse disposal; as an outer London borough council it has been an education authority since 1965. This arrangement lasted until 1986 when Bromley London Borough Council gained responsibility for some services, provided by the Greater London Council, such as waste disposal. Since 2000 the Greater London Authority has taken some responsibility for highways and planning control from the council, but within the English local government system the council remains a "most purpose" authority in terms of the available range of powers and functions.
Since the first election to the council in 1964 political control of the council has been held by the following parties: The local authority derives its powers and functions from the London Government Act 1963 and subsequent legislation. Bromley has the functions of a London borough council, it is a billing authority collecting Council Tax and business rates, it processes local planning applications, it is responsible for housing, waste collection and environmental health. It is a local education authority, responsible for social services and waste disposal; the council shares responsibility with the Greater London Authority for strategic policies including housing and the environment. Bromley London Borough Council is the billing authority for Council Tax, collects a precepts on behalf of the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority the Greater London Authority and Transport for London. Bromley Council has an agreement with the Environment Agency to clear a 40-foot "stinking pile of rubbish" abandoned by the company Waste4Fuel next to people's homes.
The rubbish has been there for four years but according to the Telegraph progress expected since the council became involved in March has not been made. Bromley local elections London Borough of Bromley website
