Southwark Council has adopted an ambitious plan to tackle affordability, safety, and environmental sustainability across the borough. The Council Assembly meeting on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, saw the endorsement of a new joint administration's vision, which acknowledges significant local challenges.
These challenges include a child poverty rate of 43.3% after housing costs, the impacts of climate breakdown, a social housing waiting list of 23,000 households, and 41% of residents feeling unsafe at night. The council also faces a £102 million funding gap attributed to national austerity measures.
The new Joint Administration, formed by the Green and Liberal Democrat groups following the 2026 local elections, aims to make Southwark a place where everyone can afford to live, work, and thrive. Key principles guiding their work include increasing access to good jobs and affordable homes, reducing inequality, creating safer communities, and tackling the climate and nature emergencies.
To address the high child poverty rate, the council aims to make it easier for residents to afford everyday essentials and ensure more young people are in good, sustainable jobs and training. This is part of a broader Borough Action Plan designed to guide the Joint Administration's work over the next four years. The plan also seeks to ensure Southwark is a place where people can grow up and grow old in,
providing services and amenities for families and enabling residents to age well – with homes and services that work for all.
In tackling the impacts of climate breakdown, the council's plan includes delivering a step change in local adaptation measures with a focus on climate justice, enhancing Southwark's biodiversity and green and blue space, further reducing the borough's emissions, and recycling significantly more of our waste.
This forms a key part of the four-year Borough Action Plan.
The administration also plans to address the housing crisis by building more council homes, ensuring council tenants and leaseholders are satisfied with the service they receive, and reducing the number of void properties and the length of time properties are empty.
This is a core component of the Borough Action Plan.
To improve the feeling of safety at night for the 41% of residents who feel unsafe, the council aims to Make Southwark safer by tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, putting prevention first and taking effective enforcement action to build safer neighbourhoods, and prioritising preventing violence against women and girls.
The plan also states, We will also protect residents from accelerating climate impacts, such as extreme heat.
Regarding the £102 million funding gap, the council intends to Defend Southwark's interests, so that residents think the council provides good value for money and stands up for local people. We will be loud and bold in our asks of this Labour government, who have left Southwark with a £102 million funding gap. We will also be honest about the financial challenges we face, tackle them together with the people of Southwark, and stand firm in our refusal to accept declining standards as inevitable.
Progress has already been noted in the first 100 days of the administration, with initiatives such as a uniform programme for families in need, an accelerated heatwave response, and an investment of £600,000 in Night Time Patrols.
The administration is committed to developing a comprehensive Borough Action Plan over the next four years. This plan will focus on making Southwark more affordable, taking serious action on climate change, addressing the housing crisis, enhancing safety, improving street cleanliness, defending the borough's interests, and fostering a more responsive and resident-shaped council. The plan's success will be measured by its ability to achieve these goals, including ensuring residents can afford essentials, young people are in good jobs, climate action is taken, housing is improved, neighbourhoods are safer, and streets are clean and green.
The full details of the council's plans can be found in the Public reports pack for the Council Assembly meeting on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. The agenda frontsheet and supplemental agenda are also available, along with the printed minutes.
