Southwark councillors will have the chance to increase the number of Community Councils in the borough from five to eight when Liberal Democrats force a vote on the issue this week.

Lib Dem councillors have put forward a motion at Southwark Council’s annual meeting on Wednesday (22 May), calling for a return to the previous Community Council model of eight neighbourhood areas. It would end the council’s experiment with only five Community Councils, which was brought in by the Labour administration last year despite protests from opposition councillors and residents.

The change would see the Bermondsey & Rotherhithe forum split into two separate Community Councils, Walworth taken out of Borough, Bankside & Walworth, and Peckham taken out of the Nunhead & Peckham Rye Community Council area.

Southwark Liberal Democrats argue that the new set-up isn’t working, with attendances dropping and over-packed agendas. They say more localised Community Councils would increase local participation and give more time for important issues to be discussed with residents.

Whilst the total budget for Community Councils would remain the same this year, the Liberal Democrats have already pledged to increase their funding in future years should they win back control of the council.

Leader of the Liberal Democrat group at the council, Cllr Anood Al-Samerai, said:

“Southwark Labour took a perfectly good model of community involvement and cynically dismantled it for political purposes. Their general approach to local democracy is to squash it wherever they see it because they want to hold on to as much power centrally as they possibly can.”

“Public opinion is on our side on this. Residents want a return to the old system, and Southwark Liberal Democrats will continue to make that case. I hope Labour councillors will see sense and back a return to more local decision making.”

Current Community Councils areas:

1. Borough, Bankside & Walworth
2. Bermondsey & Rotherhithe
3. Camberwell
4. Peckham & Nunhead
5. Dulwich

Proposed Community Council areas:

1. Borough and Bankside
2. Bermondsey
3. Rotherhithe
4. Walworth
5. Peckham
6. Camberwell
7. Nunhead and Peckham Rye
8. Dulwich