Comments on: Lewisham East

By: LBernard

LBernard — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 08:35:59 +0000

It is suprising that Downham has not trended more towards the Conservatives like many other LCC estates have done over the last 10 or so years and has seem to prefer the LibDems. Surely if the Tories put in a good fight locally in Ward elections could they not take a seat there? It seems odd that the Conservatives are not particularly strong in the South of the borough given its close proximity to Bromley.

Or is this estate one where demograhics are now working against this happening?

By: Pete Whitehead

Pete Whitehead — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 15:11:52 +0000

Also the Blackheath ward in Lewisham includes areas well beyond the village including some poor council estates towards central Lewisham and since 2002 areas south of the railway line in Lee. In this respect it is more similar to the Highgate ward in Camden

By: H.Hemmelig

H.Hemmelig — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 14:25:22 +0000

Blackheath is not in the same class as Hampstead or Richmond.

It is more like Muswell Hill or Hornsey, ie. comfortable middle class media/public sector professionals rather than really serious wealth. This accounts for the Tory vote being less resilient than in places mentioned above where there are huge concentrations of city money.

By: akmd

akmd — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 13:32:22 +0000

Remember though that Blackheath is actually split into two wards as well as being split across two boroughs. You have Blackheath ward in Lewisham and Blackheath Westcombe in Greenwich. The latter is the more affluent of the two and is still a good ward for the Conservatives as they have two of the three councillors with Labour holding the other council seat. Unlike Lewisham, Greenwich does not have the Lib Dem presence that can be found throughout Lewisham which is why the Tories are still competitive there while being almost totally absent in Lewisham aside from two councillors in Grove Park.

By: richard

richard — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 13:17:57 +0000

Its interesting that Blackheath has continued to drift away from the Conservatives as I have always associated it with other middle class liberal areas such as Hampstead, Richmond and Chiswick which have apparantly trended towards the Conservatives as City professionals have moved in.

I would have thought this would also have occured in Blackheath with its proximity to the City and Canary Wharf.

By: Joe James B

Joe James B — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 23:51:27 +0000

It is pretty drab, but I think it probably does provide reasonable schools, low crime etc, gardens.

Lewisham is 39th most deprived local authority in Britain.

By: Pete Whitehead

Pete Whitehead — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 23:40:13 +0000

“Oh dear, Benjamin.
Your disparraging remarks about the people of Bexley may yet appear on a leaflet near you”

Benjamin needn’t worry. Even more than in Tower Hamlets the LDs are a spent force in Bexley nowadays. They tend to come fourth behind the BNP now in wards they used to win a few years ago
(to be fair though, his description is not entirely inaccurate – as you say we discussed this and I think Old Bexley is quite nice but Bexleyheath and especially Welling are pretty drab)

By: Joe James B

Joe James B — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 23:10:53 +0000

On the Bexleyheath thread Pete and I had an interesting discussion about how the area was a lot drabber than we imagined.

I think the area south of Bexleyheath town centre is quite nice though, if you go down Townley Road towards the village area.

It’s got a slightly forbidding feel to it north of the town centre as you get near Erith.

By: benjamin

benjamin — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 23:07:56 +0000

Glad to be of help. There may be some very nice bits but the areas I’ve seen driving through were all as I described and quite depressing

By: Joe James B

Joe James B — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 23:01:36 +0000

Oh dear, Benjamin.
Your disparraging remarks about the people of Bexley may yet appear on a leaflet near you.