The Lewisham Compact sets out an 'action agenda' of work to be done -the challenge is to put this agenda into effect. The Compact provides a framework for improving relations with Lewisham Council - the more organisations are involved, the more effective it will be.

So far, more than 60 voluntary and community organisations have signed up to the Lewisham Compact:

• Ackroyd Community Centre
• Ackroyd Under-Fives Group
• African Welfare Organisation
• Alcohol Recovery Project
• Bellingham North Community Centre
• Both Parents Forever
• Bangladeshi Welfare Association in Deptford and New Cross
• Carers Lewisham
• CASSEL Centre
• Catford Southend Residents Association
• CHAS (Catholic Housing Aid Society) Lewisham
• Champion Hall Community Association
• Children's Education Group
• Christian Church of God
• Dalmain Home School Association
• Eaves Housing for Women
• Federation of Refugees from Vietnam in Lewisham
• Forest Hill and Sydenham Voluntary Care Association
• Friends of Beckenham Place Park
• Global Bridges Ltd
• Good Neighbours in Silwood Scheme
• Greenwich and Lewisham Young People's Theatre
• Groundwork Thames Gateway London South
• Grove Centre Church Sydenham
• Grove Park Community Group (GPCG Ringway)
• Hughesfield Supplementary School
• International Welfare Association
• Lewisham Action on Mediation Project
• Learning From Experience Trust
• Lee Ash Pre-School
• Lee Manor Society
• Lewisham Black Women's Support Centre
• Lewisham Citizens Advice Bureau Service
• Lewisham Community Transport Scheme
• Lewisham CV Service Ltd
• Lewisham Friend
• Lewisham Independent Living Schemes Users Group
• Lewisham Shopmobility
• Lewisham Turkish School
• Lewisham Victim Support
• Lewisham Voluntary Sector Training Network
• Limelight Family Centre
• Multi-Cultural Education and Youth Project (Lewisham)
• Multiple Sclerosis Society - Lewisham Branch
• 999 Club Trust
• Platform 1
• Positive Place
• Providence Project
• Quaggy Waterways Action Group
• Ravensbourne Project
• South East London Tamil Elders and Family Welfare Association
• Sabre Employment Ltd
• St Christopher's Hospice
• Salvation Army Deptford
• Samaritan Youth Project
• Second Wave Centre for Youth Arts
• Secular Organisation for Sobriety (SOS)
• Somerville Adventure Playground
• Thames Reach Bondway
• Under Pressure
• Users and Friends of Manor House Library
• Vista Reminiscence Group
• Voluntary Action Lewisham
• Women In Need Foundation
• Youth Expression

By signing up to the Compact, your organisation will be demonstrating its commitment to co-operative working, and will be able to take part in nominations and elections for the Steering Group that oversees the Compact's further development.

To sign up to the Lewisham Compact, click here.

For more information, call Sheila Murphy on 020 8314 9411.

Lewisham Council's Compact Officers Group...

• Has drawn up plans to include more community information on the Lewisham Council's website
• Has established a community premises forum, organised by the Council's Community Sector Unit
• Is working towards setting up a system for collecting and publicising consultation and partnership arrangements
• Has reviewed how the Council publicises its funding programmes

Work is in progress to:

• Produce a simple guide to Council structures, which will help voluntary and community organisations to obtain information
• Produce updated good practice guidelines about consultation procedures
• Draw up proposals for a community premises development officer, who would help voluntary and community organisations with premises issues
• Produce a guide to Council funding for voluntary and community organisations
• Develop links between the Compact, the Lewisham Local Strategic Partnership Board and Lewisham Community Network

In 1998, the Government published a national Compact called Getting It Right Together, which was drawn up with representatives of national voluntary and community organisations. The Government recommended that local Councils should develop their own versions of this national agreement, incorporating local needs and areas of concern.

VAL and Lewisham Council agreed to develop a Compact for Lewisham, and formed a steering group in September 1999 to manage and develop the Compact process. Two years of consultation - open events, questionnaires, working groups and detailed interviews with nearly 100 organisations and individuals from the Council and the voluntary and community sector - followed before the Compact document was published on 17 July 2001.

To see more information about compacts, including the various codes of practice, click here (external site).

The Lewisham Compact is an agreement on collaborative and partnership working between Lewisham Council and the borough's voluntary and community organisations. VAL therefore actively encourages organisations and groups to sign up to the compact as part of their commitment to working with Lewisham Council to make Lewisham a better place to live, work and play.

Healthy relationships between people or organisations are built on shared values and respect - Lewisham's Compact is designed to promote a framework which ensures that voluntary sector organisations and groups are treated fairly and with respect at all times. This section therefore offers you the opportunity to better understand the purpose and the role of Lewisham Compact and to give you an opportunity to sign up to it. Our director, Martin Howie, coordinates the implementation of this work.

• See below for a copy of the Compact.
• Click here to send an email to sign the Compact
• Click here to send an email requesting a hard copy in the post

The London borough of Lewisham has a population of around 260,000, speaking over 200 languages. It is estimated that people of black or ethnic minority origin comprise forty percent of the population.

The majority of the population work outside the borough and almost a quarter of households are pensioner only.

Indices of Deprivation

Government statistics used to identify the most deprived communities in England identify Lewisham as the 39th most deprived local Authority area in England (IMD 2007). Pockets of deprivation are spread throughout the borough, but concentrated in the north in Evelyn, New Cross, and Telegraph Hill wards and also parts of Brockley and Lewisham Central. In the south deprivation is concentrated in Bellingham, Downham, and Whitefoot.

Lewisham also has amongst the highest levels of teenage pregnancy and an above average proportion of people with low levels of literacy and numeracy.

Yet despite its many social problems the borough is active and vibrant. Lewisham contains over 550 small and medium sized creative enterprises and, especially in Deptford, has a long history of artistic achievement.

Voluntary and Community Sector

The voluntary and community sector is varied, active, and makes a highly significant contribution to the welfare and wellbeing of the borough’s citizens. VAL’s database includes over 800 voluntary and community organisations, over 500 people are involved in local tenants' and residents' associations and 1,000 people are involved in Lewisham’s Citizen’s Panel. Public spending in Lewisham totals just over £1billion.

Local Authority Wards in Lewisham

Details of many of these wards can be found on the Council's Neighbourhoods Pages

More Information

For more information on Lewisham, try some of the links below: