Lewisham West and Penge (UK Parliament constituency)

Lewisham West and Penge
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Lewisham West and Penge in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	69,399 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	2010 (2010)
Member of Parliament	Jim Dowd (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Lewisham West Beckenham
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Lewisham West and Penge is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Jim Dowd of the Labour Party.

History

Following the adoption of this part of the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies this new constituency was born with electoral wards from the London Boroughs of Bromley and Lewisham — the greater electorate and area is in the latter. It was contested for the first time in the 2010 general election.

Constituency Profile

The new seat comprises the South-Western portion of Lewisham borough (narrowly in most years to date the strongest part of the borough for the Conservatives) with the northwestern tip of Bromley borough. Fittingly, this seat is therefore the Conservatives' best chance of winning anywhere in Lewisham, and Labour's best hope in Bromley. A strong Liberal Democrat challenge in 2010 edged the Conservative candidate narrowly into third, which ensured that Labour, registering their 192nd largest share of the vote of the 650 constituencies, held on comfortably against divided opposition.

At the heart of the seat is Forest Hill, bisected by the route of the South Circular Road and thus familiar to Londoners driving through on their way to the Kent coast. Its ambit also includes some of the Crystal Palace hill (the famous park and site of the palace itself is on the intersection of five boroughs) and the nearby areas of Penge and Sydenham - all parts of South London which have progressively become slightly less desirable places to live since the mid-19th century when this upland area in the west of the seat presented the height of luxurious suburbia. The Guardian however positively summarised it in 2010 as "suburban south-east London, with a large Afro-Caribbean population."

Boundaries

The seat has electoral wards:

• Bellingham; Forest Hill; Perry Vale; Sydenham in the London Borough of Lewisham
• Clock House; Crystal Palace; Penge and Cator in the London Borough of Bromley

To create the new constituency the Boundary Commission for England transferred Perry Vale ward, Bellingham ward, Forest Hill ward, and Sydenham ward from the former Lewisham West constituency. Clock House ward, Crystal Palace ward, and Penge and Cator ward were transferred from Beckenham constituency.

Proposed changes

As part of the ongoing Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which commenced in 2011, the Boundary Commission for England propose creating a new constituency merging College, Village, East Dulwich and Peckham Rye wards in the London Borough of Southwark and Crofton Park, Perry Vale, Forest Hill and Sydenham wards in the London Borough of Lewisham. If accepted by Parliament this would be named 'Dulwich and Sydenham'. The electoral wards of Penge, and Cator will be transferred to a reformed Beckenham.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	2010	Jim Dowd	Labour

Election results

General Election 2010: Lewisham West and Penge
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jim Dowd	18,501	41.1	−5.2
	Liberal Democrat	Alex Feakes	12,673	28.1	+1.0
	Conservative	Chris Phillips	11,489	25.5	+3.9
	UKIP	Peter Staveley	1,117	2.5	−0.1
	Green	Romayne Phoenix	931	2.1	−0.3
	Christian Peoples	Stephen Hammond	317	0.7	N/A
Majority			5,828	12.9	−6.2
Turnout			45,028	65.2	+7.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.1

See also

• Lewisham West (UK Parliament constituency)
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

Notes and References

Notes

References