Southwark Council Unveils Ambitious Strategy for Affordable, Safe, and Green Borough

Southwark Council has adopted an ambitious plan to make the borough more affordable, safe, and environmentally sustainable. The new Joint Administration, formed by the Green and Liberal Democrat groups, outlined its vision during a Council Assembly meeting on Wednesday, September 23, 2026.

The plan acknowledges significant challenges facing the borough, including a social housing waiting list of 23,000 households, a child poverty rate of 43.3% after housing costs, and 41% of residents feeling unsafe at night. The administration also highlighted a £102 million funding gap attributed to the Labour government's fair-funding review.

To address the cost of living and improve job prospects, the Joint Administration plans to ensure residents find it easier to afford everyday essentials and more young people are in good and sustainable jobs and training. Initiatives include a new programme for providing uniforms for families in need, the return of community councils and one-stop shops, and a major borough-wide budget participation campaign. They have also negotiated a flat fee for Southwark residents with e-bike operators, as outlined in the motion Affordable, Safe, and Green: The Joint Administration's ambitions for Southwark .

In response to the child poverty rate of 43.3%, the administration will focus on making Southwark more affordable by ensuring residents can more easily afford everyday essentials and by increasing opportunities for young people in jobs and training.

The council is also confronting the £102 million funding gap by Challenging the Government and Southwark's MPs to demand more support and working with other councils through an Anti-Austerity Summit. The Joint Administration intends to be loud and bold in our asks of this Labour government and has called for the Leadership to write to the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government, to ask for an urgent meeting to discuss Southwark's financial position. Furthermore, they are urging Southwark's MPs to publicly call on Andy Burnham and his Government to undertake an urgent re-think of the so-called 'Fair Funding' settlement to ensure Southwark receives a fair deal. These actions are detailed in the motions Affordable, Safe, and Green: The Joint Administration's ambitions for Southwark and Standing Up For Southwark .

The Joint Administration's core principles are:

• Affordable: Tackling the cost of living, increasing access to good jobs and affordable homes, and reducing inequality.
• Safe: Creating communities where people feel safe by supporting vulnerable residents, investing in young people, preventing crime, and maintaining welcoming public spaces. Beyond the £600,000 investment in Night Time Patrols, the plan aims to tackle 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 council will also protect residents from accelerating climate impacts, such as extreme heat.
• Green: Addressing the climate and nature emergencies while improving daily life through warmer homes, lower energy bills, cleaner air, greener neighbourhoods, and climate justice. The administration commits to Take serious action on climate by 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. The motion A clean energy future for Southwark calls on the government to Introduce a statutory duty on public bodies to take action to tackle the climate crisis and deliver legally binding emissions reduction and climate adaptation objectives. The council reaffirms its commitment to doing everything within its powers and available resources to reduce emissions, tackle the climate emergency and protect residents from its impacts.

Progress has already been made in the first 100 days of the administration, including the launch of a uniform programme for families in need and an accelerated heatwave response. The council also invested £600,000 in Night Time Patrols.

The administration is committed to developing a full Borough Action Plan over the next four years, focusing on making Southwark affordable, taking serious action on climate, tackling the housing crisis, making the borough safer, delivering clean and green streets, defending Southwark's interests, and creating a council that listens and residents can shape. The plan also aims to ensure Southwark is a place where people can grow up and grow old well.

To tackle the housing crisis, the Joint Administration plans to build 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. A new empty homes task force has been launched to address this.

The council aims to be a council that listens, and that residents can shape by delivering community councils and one-stop shops. They will engage in a major borough-wide campaign engaging with residents ahead of the budget, ensuring their views run through the heart of council decision-making. The results of this engagement will be published, demonstrating how resident feedback has influenced the budget.

[See Affordable, Safe, and Green: The Joint Administration's ambitions for Southwark ] [See Standing Up For Southwark ] [See A clean energy future for Southwark ] [See Support Southwark residents, support Southwark staff ]