A campaign has been launched to establish London’s second parish council under the Localism Act.
Run by organisers of the Deptford Heritage Festival, a petition to back the plans are said to be ‘at an advanced stage’. It must be signed by 7.5% of electors to trigger a governance review by Lewisham Council.
A public meeting on the proposals will kick off this year’s festival on April 29. If successful, it will see a parish council return to the town more than half a century after the last one was abolished.
Ray Barron-Woolford, press spokesperson for the festival, said: ‘I am truly delighted that after months of work we are in the position to restore Deptford’s pride, heritage, identity and its community cohesion and would like to thank the festival management team who have made this possible, and Lewisham People Before profit, whose members have been knocking on doors day after day collecting the signatures in support that has helped us give Deptford back its mojo.’
Deptford will follow in the footsteps of Queen’s Park, Westminster, which became the first parish council to get the go ahead in London under the Localism Act in 2012.
Cllr Ken Browse, chair of National Association of Local Councils, said: ‘I’m delighted to support the campaign to set up a new parish council in Deptford as this will give more power to the people, providing the community with a democratic voice and accountable structure for taking action on local priorities.
‘Deptford joins the devolution revolution that is taking place up and down the country with scores of communities in the process of setting up new parish and town councils.’
