Havering London Borough Council

Havering London Borough Council, also known as Havering Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Havering in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under no overall control since 2014; after the 2022 election, it was run by a coalition of the Havering Residents Association and Labour; since 2024, it has been run solely by the HRA. The council is based at Havering Town Hall in Romford.

History
The London Borough of Havering 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 borough council of Romford and the urban district council of Hornchurch. 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's full legal name is "The Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Havering".

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 Havering) responsible for "personal" services such as social care, libraries, cemeteries and refuse collection. As an outer London borough council Havering has been a local education authority since 1965. The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986 and its functions passed to the London Boroughs, with some services provided through joint committees.

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.

In September 2023, the leader of the council warned the authority could be six months away from triggering a Section 114 notice because of the increasing cost of social care and housing. The council managed to set a budget in 2024, but only through relying on an exceptional £54million loan from the government.

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 plus levies on behalf of the East London Waste Authority, the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and others. 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 no overall 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:

Leadership
The role of mayor in Havering is largely ceremonial, usually being held by a different councillor each year. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1965 have been:

Composition
Following the 2022 election, a subsequent by-election and changes of allegiance up to June 2024, the composition of the council is:

* The HRA is a group of residents' associations and some HRA candidates run under local residents association labels. The HRA members of the council include Graham Williamson who is also a member of the National Liberal Party.

** John Tyler was elected under the Cranham and Upminster Residents Association label and never sat with the Havering Residents Association group in the council. When Philip Ruck left the HRA in February 2024, the two formed the Residents Association Independent Group.

Following the 2022 election, the council remained under no overall control with the Conservatives remaining the largest party but still shy of a majority. After weeks of negotiations, and following Labour's rejection of a confidence and supply arrangement, a coalition arrangement was reached between the HRA and Labour which saw Ray Morgon appointed Leader of the Council with a majority HRA cabinet and a minority of Labour members. John Tyler, residents association councillor for Cranham, announced he would not join HRA Group in the weeks after the coalition was formed, stating that bringing national party politics into local governemnt was "fundamentally against [his] principles".

In September 2022, three Conservative councillors jointly announced they were joining the HRA due to a lack of support from their party after the July wildfires in Wennington. The death of HRA councillor Linda Hawthorn in May 2023 saw a by-election in Upminster where the group kept their seat. In January 2024, Conservative councillor Robby Misir joined the HRA having criticised his former party's local leader Keith Prince over a debate about school transport. Three more Conservative councillors defected to the HRA in late April.

On 22 May 2024, at the annual meeting of the full council, the HRA elected their own councillor Gerry O'Sullivan to be the ceremonial Mayor of Havering. This came as a shock to the Labour Group which expected their outgoing Deputy Mayor Patricia Brown to be elected mayor as is tradition. Labour councillor Trevor McKeever described it as breaking the coalition agreement and local Labour leader Keith Darvill described it as a breach of trust. Patricia Brown herself said that "HRA members have demonstrated time and again over the past two years that self-service comes before working together for the benefit of residents". For its part, the HRA disagreed and stated that their was nothing on the mayoralty included in their agreement. During the meeting, Labour councillor Paul McGeary abstained on voting for Labour's candidates for the mayoralty and for the chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Board, with him defecting to the HRA just over a week later. With only Labour leader Keith Darvill left representing his party in the cabinet, the HRA decided on 3 June 2024 to end the agreement and govern as a minority administration. Darvill criticised the HRA for "populism and empty gesture petty politics". Council leader Ray Morgon told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the end was "inevitable" but had "expected there’d be a rift next year" and Darvill similarly stated that he had "expected it".

Elections
Since the last boundary changes in 2022 the council has comprised 55 councillors representing 20 wards, with each ward electing two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.

As part of the process of reviewing the boundaries leading up to the 2022 changes, there were accusations that the Conservative administration was attempting to gerrymander the new boundaries. The council's then leader, Damian White, was secretly recorded outlining plans to modify ward boundaries to the advantage of the party. White reportedly said the Local Government Boundary Commission had so few staff it was "highly unlikely they'll put in the effort" to scrutinise the changes and that "they only look at what was discussed... at the full council meeting. So there will be only one option." Following the emergence of the recording there was a local outcry. The Local Government Boundary Commission consequently revised its proposals for the new wards and carried out further public consultation, which led to notable changes in the final boundaries from the earlier draft proposals.

Premises
The council is based at Havering Town Hall on Main Road in Romford, which was completed in 1937 as 'Romford Town Hall' for the old Romford Urban District Council. It was formally opened on 16 September 1937, on which day Romford was also presented with its charter of incorporation turning the urban district into a borough. The building was subsequently extended in 1960 and 1988. In May 2024, the town hall experienced an arson attack, damaging the property but not leading to any injuries or loss of data.

Cabinet
The current composition of Havering Council's Cabinet is as follows.