Politics of Barking and Dagenham

The civic centre, in Becontree Heath is the administrative centre of the Borough; and the former town hall of the Municipal Borough of Dagenham.

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham consists of two parliamentary constituencies: Barking; and the new constituency of Dagenham and Rainham. The borough is within the City and East London Assembly constituency, returning John Biggs AM, as the directly elected Assembly Member. Barkling and Dagenham is part of the London constituency in the European Parliament.

The council has a Mayor, who is elected at the council annual general meeting by councillors. The Mayor must be a serving councillor, although the role of Mayor is non-political. The Mayor chairs council meetings; and performs ceremonial duties in the Borough.[1]

Following the Barking and Dagenham Council election as part of the London local elections, which coincided with a 2010 General Election, the Labour Party were returned with councillors in all 51 seats. 11 seats were gained by Labour from the BNP, one from the Conservative Party.

History

The former town hall of the Municipal Borough of Barking.

The borough was formed in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963 as the London Borough of Barking. The constituent parts were the greater part of the Municipal Borough of Barking and the entire Municipal Borough of Dagenham, the former area of which was transferred to Greater London from Essex. At the time of the amalgamation the combined population of Barking and Dagenham was around 180,000,[2] the northern tip of Dagenham having been incorporated into Redbridge and a small area of Barking in Newham.

The borough was renamed Barking and Dagenham in 1980.[3]

The composition of the council at each local election was:

Election Councillors Aldermen
Labour Conservative BNP Chadwell Heath
Ratepayers' Assoc.
Liberals /
Liberal Democrats
Independents Labour
1964 45 - - 4 - - 8
1968 32 13 - 4 - - 8
1971 45 - - 4 - - 8
1974 45 - - 4 - - 8
1978 42 3 - 3 - -
1982 37 3 - 3 3 2
1986 35 3 - 3 5 2
1990 44 - - 3 1 -
1994 47 - - 3 1 -
1998 47 - - 3 1 -
2002 42 2 - 4 3 -
2006 36 2 12 - - 1
2010 51 - - - - -

Wards

51 councillors form Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council. They are elected from the 17 wards which make up the borough. The wards are:

Ward Coverage Westminster (future) Map (PDF)
Abbey Barking (town centre and west) Barking
Albion Dagenham (north) Barking
Becontree Becontree (north west) Barking
Chadwell Heath Chadwell Heath (north, inc. Marks Gate) Dagenham and Rainham
Eastbrook Rush Green (south), Eastbrookend Country Park, Dagenham (east) Dagenham and Rainham
Eastbury Barking (south east) Barking
Gascoigne Barking (south west) Barking
Goresbrook Becontree (south), Dagenham (south west) Barking
Heath Becontree Heath, Dagenham (north), Rush Green (north) Dagenham and Rainham
Longbridge Barking (north), Upney (north) Barking
Mayesbrook Becontree (south) Dagenham and Rainham
Parsloes Becontree (south east), Dagenham (south west) Barking
River Dagenham (south), Dagenham Dock (east) Dagenham and Rainham
Thames Barking Riverside, Thames View Estate, Dagenham Dock (west) Barking
Valence Becontree (north east) Barking
Village Dagenham (south east), Dagenham (village) Dagenham and Rainham
Whalebone Chadwell Heath (north) Dagenham and Rainham

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.