London Borough of Newham - Governance

Governance

Unlike most English districts, its council is led by a directly elected mayor of Newham. From 2002 to 2009 one of the councillors had been appointed as the "civic ambassador" and performed the civic and ceremonial role previously carried out by the mayor. The post has been discontinued.

Although statistically counted as part of Inner London, the borough is still considered part of Outer London for purposes such as funding. This is because the majority of Newham was not part of the 1889-1965 County of London. However, much of the borough has historically formed part of London's built-up area and economically it is one of the more deprived districts. The council is actively campaigning to have Newham officially considered part of Inner London for all purposes in order to increase its level of government grant by £60 million. Newham is a challenging borough in a number of ways and currently has the second lowest recycling rate in the United Kingdom.

At the borough elections held on 6 May 2010 the Labour Party won all 60 of the seats on the Council. Sir Robin Wales was re-elected as the borough's Executive Mayor with 68% of the first preference votes cast.