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Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council

Local authority in London, England

Summary

Local authority in London, England

FieldValue
nameHammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council
coa_picCoat of arms of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.svg
coa_captionCoat of arms
logo_picLb Hammersmith and Fulham logo.svg
logo_captionLogo
house_typeLondon borough
leader1_typeMayor
leader1Sharon Holder
party1
Labour
election121 May 2025
leader2_typeLeader
leader2Stephen Cowan
party2
Labour
election222 May 2014
leader3_typeChief Executive
leader3Sharon Lea
party3
election324 February 2022
members50 councillors
structure1United Kingdom Hammersmith & Fulham Council 2025.svg
structure1_res250px
:borderdarkgray}} Labour (37)
:borderdarkgray}} Conservative (10)
:borderdarkgray}} Green (2)
:borderdarkgray}} Independent (1)
voting_system1First past the post
last_election15 May 2022
next_election17 May 2026
session_roomHammersmith Town Hall in daylight - geograph.org.uk - 800796.jpg
session_res250
meeting_placeTown Hall, King Street, Hammersmith, London, W69JU
website

Labour Labour ;Administration (37) : Labour (37) ;Other parties (13) : Conservative (10) : Green (2) : Independent (1) Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council, which styles itself Hammersmith and Fulham Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in Greater London, England. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2014. The council's usual meeting place is at Hammersmith Town Hall.

History

The London Borough of Hammersmith (as it was originally named) and its council were created under the London Government Act 1963, with the first election held in 1964. For its first year the council acted as a shadow authority alongside the area's two outgoing authorities, being the metropolitan borough councils of Fulham and Hammersmith. The new council formally came into its powers on 1 April 1965, at which point the old districts and their councils were abolished.

The council changed the borough's name from 'Hammersmith' to 'Hammersmith and Fulham' with effect from 1 April 1979. Since then, the council's full legal name has been "The Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham", but it styles itself Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

From 1965 until 1986 the council was a lower-tier authority, with upper-tier functions provided by the Greater London Council. The split of powers and functions meant that the Greater London Council was responsible for "wide area" services such as fire, ambulance, flood prevention, and refuse disposal; with the boroughs (including Hammersmith and Fulham) responsible for "personal" services such as social care, libraries, cemeteries and refuse collection. The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986 and its functions passed to the London Boroughs, with some services provided through joint committees. Hammersmith and Fulham became a local education authority in 1990 when the Inner London Education Authority was dissolved.

Since 2000 the Greater London Authority has taken some responsibility for highways and planning control from the council, but within the English local government system the council remains a "most purpose" authority in terms of the available range of powers and functions.

The council was involved in a landmark English administrative law case in 1991, Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham LBC, which ruled that local authorities had no power to engage in interest rate swap agreements because they were beyond the council's borrowing powers.

In 2021 the council was said by the Housing Ombudsman to be the worst performing landlord in the country with regard to damp and mould in its properties.

Powers and functions

The local authority derives its powers and functions from the London Government Act 1963 and subsequent legislation, and has the powers and functions of a London borough council. It sets council tax and as a billing authority also collects precepts for Greater London Authority functions and business rates. It sets planning policies which complement Greater London Authority and national policies, and decides on almost all planning applications accordingly. It is a local education authority and is also responsible for council housing, social services, libraries, waste collection and disposal, traffic, and most roads and environmental health.

Political control

The council has been under Labour majority control since 2014.

The first election was held in 1964, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 1 April 1965. Political control of the council since 1965 has been as follows:

Party in controlYears
1965–1968
1968–1971
1971–1978
1978–1986
1986–2006
2006–2014
2014–present

Leadership

The role of Mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham is largely ceremonial. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1965 have been:

CouncillorPartyFromTo
John Heaks19651966
Anthony Chapman19661968
William Smith19681971
Alfred Little19711973
Barry Stead19731978
Stuart Leishman19781979
Kim Howe19791985
John Putnam19851986
Gordon Prentice19861988
Mike Goodman19881991
Iain Coleman19911996
Andy Slaughter1996May 2005
Stephen Burke25 May 2005May 2006
Stephen Greenhalgh24 May 200630 May 2012
title=Council minutes, 30 May 2012url=https://democracy.lbhf.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=114&MId=1937website=London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulhamaccess-date=23 May 2025}}30 May 2012May 2014
Stephen Cowan16 Jun 2014

Composition

Following the 2022 election and subsequent changes of allegiance up to July 2025, the composition of the council was as follows:

PartyCouncillorsTotal50
37
10
2
1

The next election is due in May 2026.

Wards

The wards of Hammersmith and Fulham and the number of seats:

  1. Addison (2)
  2. Avonmore (2)
  3. Brook Green (2)
  4. College Park & Old Oak (3)
  5. Coningham (3)
  6. Fulham Reach (3)
  7. Fulham Town (2)
  8. Grove (2)
  9. Hammersmith Broadway (2)
  10. Lillie (2)
  11. Munster (3)
  12. Palace and Hurlingham (3)
  13. Parsons Green & Sandford (2)
  14. Ravenscourt (2)
  15. Sands End (3)
  16. Shepherd's Bush Green (2)
  17. Walham Green (2)
  18. Wendell Park (2)
  19. West Kensington (3)
  20. White City (3)
  21. Wormholt (2)

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2022 the council has comprised 50 councillors representing 21 wards, with each ward electing two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.

Premises

The council's usual meeting place is at Hammersmith Town Hall on King Street, which was completed in 1939 for the old Hammersmith Borough Council. The building has been closed since 2019 whilst being refurbished as part of the development of a new 'Civic Campus' around it, which has included the demolition of the council's former main offices which had been built in front of the Town Hall in 1974/5. The Town Hall is due to reopen in 2025.

References

References

  1. "Hammersmith and Fulham has a new Mayor!".
  2. "Council report, 24 May 2023".
  3. {{cite legislation UK
  4. "Historical information on changes to electoral arrangements of Local authorities, Parliamentary areas and European Parliamentary boundaries". Ordnance Survey.
  5. "Cabinet agenda, 6 November 2023".
  6. {{cite legislation UK. (1985)
  7. [[Education Reform Act 1988]] (c. 40)
  8. Leach, Steve. (1998). "Local Government Reorganisation: The Review and its Aftermath". Routledge.
  9. (9 July 2015). "Hazell -v- Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council; HL 1991".
  10. (10 February 2022). "Council launches damp and mould strategy after topping ombudsman's worst performers list". Inside Housing.
  11. "Council Tax and Business Rates Billing Authorities". Council Tax Rates.
  12. (12 November 2015). "Local Plan Responses – within and outside London". Mayor of London.
  13. "Compositions Calculator". University of Exeter.
  14. "London Boroughs Political Almanac: London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham".
  15. "Council minutes, 25 May 2005".
  16. (9 May 2006). "This may be the beginning of the end for Labour itself". The Guardian.
  17. "Council minutes, 24 May 2006".
  18. (15 May 2012). "Biography: Hammersmith and Fulham Council leader-in-waiting Nick Botterill". My London.
  19. "Council minutes, 30 May 2012".
  20. "Council minutes, 16 June 2014".
  21. Lynch, Ben. (2025-07-22). "Two Labour councillors defect to Greens over 'toxic culture' in party".
  22. "Hammersmith and Fulham". Thorncliffe.
  23. (5 November 2020). "The London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham (Electoral Changes) Order 2020".
  24. {{cite legislation UK. (2020)
  25. {{NHLE
  26. "Civic Campus".
  27. (13 September 2019). "H&F Council's new King Street Service Centre is now open". Hammersmith Today.
  28. (16 April 2025). "Hammersmith's 'Town Hall campus' should be completed by year's end". London News Online.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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