The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham () is a London borough in East London."Map 5A.1 - London's sub-regions". . The London Plan. Greater London Authority. 2008. Accessed 13 November 2009. The borough was created in 1965 as the London Borough of Barking; the name was changed in 1980. It is an Outer London borough and the south is within the London Riverside section of the Thames Gateway, an area designated as a national priority for urban regeneration. At the 2011 census it had a population of 187,000. The borough's three main towns are Barking, Chadwell Heath, and Dagenham. The local authority is the Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council. Barking and Dagenham was one of six London boroughs to host the 2012 Summer Olympics."Happiness in Business: How being happy affects business success". . Company Check. 26 August 2015.
History The London Borough of Barking (as it was originally called) was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963, covering the combined area of the former Municipal Borough of Barking and the Municipal Borough of Dagenham, with the exceptions of a small area at Hog Hill from Dagenham which went to Redbridge, and the Gallions Reach area, being the part of Barking west of Barking Creek, which went to Newham. The area was transferred from Essex to Greater London to become one of the 32 London Boroughs. At the time of its creation the combined population of Barking and Dagenham was around 180,000.
The pre-1965 borough of Barking had evolved from the Barking Town local government district, which had been created in 1882 covering the central part of the parish of Barking. Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894. The Barking Town Urban District was incorporated to become a municipal borough in 1931, at which point the name was changed from Barking Town to Barking.
Dagenham was a rural parish with a parish council from 1894, subordinate to the Romford Rural District Council. In 1926 the parish council was replaced when Dagenham was made an urban district; it was made a municipal borough in 1938.
The council changed the London borough's name from 'Barking' to 'Barking and Dagenham' with effect from 1 January 1980. In 1994, the borough was expanded to cover the part of the Becontree estate that until then had been within the Borough of Redbridge and other areas. The area covered by Mayesbrook Park in the Borough was once part of the historic Manor of Jenkins, seat of the Fanshawe family.
Until the mid-2000s, alongside neighbouring Havering due to its geographical location (being one of the most eastern boroughs of London) and regional postcodes, its predominant White British character as well as its working class cultural similarities to South Essex, Barking and Dagenham was widely perceived as being culturally part of neighbouring Essex as opposed to London. However, this sentiment faded out sometime after 2006 with the demographic changes as well as gentrification in the borough. In Dagenham in particular, the architecture is very similar to many other South Essex towns, etc. Basildon, Chelmsford, Brentwood.
Historic records of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and predecessor bodies, the Borough of Barking and the Borough of Dagenham, are held at the Barking and Dagenham Archive Service, Valence House Museum.
There are a total of 52 listed buildings located within the borough's boundaries. The Grade I and Grade II* listed buildings in the borough include Eastbury Manor House, the Church of Peter and Paul, Dagenham and Valence House.
Boundaries The borough borders the London Borough of Havering to the east with the River Rom forming part of the boundary. It borders the London Borough of Newham to the west with the River Roding forming much of the border. To the south is the River Thames which forms the borough's boundary with the London Borough of Bexley and the Royal Borough of Greenwich. To the north the borough forms a thin protrusion between Havering and the London Borough of Redbridge in order to encompass Chadwell Heath. 530 hectares within the borough are designated as part of the Metropolitan Green Belt.
Geography
The borough's major districts include Barking, Becontree and Dagenham. It borders five other London boroughs: Newham, Redbridge, Havering, and Greenwich and Bexley to the south of the Thames.
Much of the housing of the borough was constructed by the London County Council during the interwar period of 1921–1939."Metropolitan Essex since 1919: Suburban growth". A History of the County of Essex, vol. 5 (1966). pp. 63–74. Accessed 16 October 2007. Major settlement of the area, mostly escaping slum conditions in the East End of London, occurred during this period when the new motor and chemical industries such as the Ford Motor Company plant at Dagenham were set up. Since the decline of these industries in the 1980s, employment has shifted towards service sector jobs. There are large areas of logistics and warehouse development around the A13 road. Much of the borough is within the London Riverside area of the Thames Gateway zone and is the site of considerable house building and other development, such as Beam Park. A £500 million budget has been earmarked for redevelopment of the borough's principal district of Barking."Project UK-Barking: urban development". Operis. . Accessed 16 October 2007.
Demographics
In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough had a total population of 1,937; and the area was characterised by farming, woodland and the fishing fleet at Barking. This last industry employed 1,370 men and boys by 1850, but by the end of the century had ceased to exist; replaced by train deliveries of fresh fish from the East Coast ports. The population rose slowly through the 19th century, as the district became built up; and new industries developed around Barking.
The population rose dramatically between 1921 and 1931, when the London County Council developed the Becontree Estate. This public housing development of 27,000 homes housed over 100,000 people, split between the then urban district councils of Ilford, Dagenham and Barking. People were rehoused from the slums of the East End."The Becontree Housing Estate". . London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. Accessed 25 February 2009. In 1931, the Ford Motor Company relocated to a site at Dagenham, and in 1932 the District line was extended to Upminster; bringing further development to the area.
After World War II, further public housing projects were built to rehouse the many Londoners, mainly from the East End, who were made homeless in the Blitz. As industry declined during the 1960s, the population entered a long decline, but has now begun to rise again with new housing developments on brownfield sites. In 2013 Barking and Dagenham has England's highest fertility rate: 2.58.
At the 2001 census, the White British and Irish ethnic group borough was recorded at 82, a modest decline from the 90% estimate recorded in the 1991 census.
However, by the time of the 2011 census the number of people identifying as White British sharply dropped to 49.5%. Barking and Dagenham has been strongly influenced by immigration, with the white British population having dropped 30.6% from 2001 to 2011 – the largest decrease in the country, and second largest proportional decrease, just behind neighbouring Newham. The population of non-UK born residents increasing by 205%. The largest decrease of White British occurred in the Longbridge ward (79.8% in 2001 to 35% in 2011), and the Abbey ward, which contains the main Barking area (from 46.2% to 15.8%). The smallest decrease was in the Eastbrook and Rush Green ward. The largest minority communities were of Black and Asian heritage.
Barking and Dagenham had by far the largest decrease of the 65+ population, having dropped almost 20% between 2001 and 2011. There were 69,700 households in the borough in 2011, up 3.6% from 2001. The borough also had the largest proportion of school-age (5–19) population of all the local authorities in England and Wales, 21.4%, at the 2011 census. The borough's pre-school (0–4) population rose by 49.1% from 2001 to 2011, by far the largest increase in London.
The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 census in Barking and Dagenham.
Ethnicity
Ethnic groupYear1971 estimations1981 estimations1991 census2001 census2011 census2021 censusNumber%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number% White: Total –98.2%141,91295.9%133,90393.19% 139,667 85.19% 108,386 58.30%98,27544.9% White: British 132,566 80.86% 91,949 49.46%67,55030.9% White: Irish 2,753 1.68% 1,730 0.93%1,1850.5% White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller 182 0.10%1840.1%White: Roma8580.4% White: Other 4,348 2.65% 14,525 7.81%28,49813.0% Asian or Asian British: Total 5,7784% 9,061 5.53% 29,594 15.92%56,58325.8% Asian or Asian British: Indian2,8071.95% 3,681 2.25% 7,436 4.00%11,5035.3% Asian or Asian British: Pakistani1,6741.16% 3,055 1.86% 8,007 4.31%15,7997.2% Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi200 673 0.41% 7,701 4.14%22,39310.2% Asian or Asian British: Chinese593 775 0.47% 1,315 0.71%1,3850.6% Asian or Asian British: Other Asian 504 877 0.53% 5,135 2.76%5,5032.5% Black or Black British: Total 3,3472.32% 11,440 6.98% 37,140 19.98%46,80721.4% Black or Black British: African9190.6% 7,284 4.44% 28,685 15.43%35,10116.0% Black or Black British: Caribbean1,7901.24% 3,434 2.09% 5,227 2.81%58242.7% Black or Black British: Other Black6380.4% 722 0.44% 3,228 1.74%58822.7% Mixed or British Mixed: Total 3,076 1.88% 7,878 4.24%9,3204.3% Mixed: White and Black Caribbean 1,420 0.87% 2,669 1.44%2,9741.4% Mixed: White and Black African 572 0.35% 2,128 1.14%2,3761.1% Mixed: White and Asian 534 0.33% 1,246 0.67%1,5500.7% Mixed: Other Mixed 550 0.34% 1,835 0.99%2,4201.1% Other: Total 6530.45% 700 0.43% 2,913 1.57%7,8863.6% Other: Arab 973 0.52%1,4890.7% Other: Any other ethnic group 6530.45% 700 0.43% 1,940 1.04%6,3972.9% Ethnic minority: Total –1.8%6,0634.1%9,7786.8% 24,277 14.81% 77,525 41.70%120,59655.1% Total –100%147,975100%143,681100% 163,944 100.00% 185,911 100.00%218,871100%
Religion Religion2021Number%Christian99,34245,4%Muslim53,38924,4%Hindu6,5963,0%Buddhist8210,4%Sikh4,2841,96%Jewish2720,12%Other religion9810,45%No religion41,19118,8%Religion not stated11,9915,48%Total218,867100%
Immigration This list includes top-15 sources of immigration to Borough of Barking and Dagenham for 2021 census: #CountryNumber1 9,4342 9,4163 9,2904 7,2755 6,6776 5,4947 3,3208 2,7499 2,32110 2,22211 2,07312 1,39413 1,31114 1,26115 1,253
Governance
The local authority is Barking and Dagenham Council, which meets at Barking Town Hall.
Greater London representation For elections to the Greater London Council, the borough formed the Barking electoral division, electing two members. In 1973 it was divided into the single-member Barking and Dagenham electoral divisions. The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986.
Since 2000, the borough is within the City and East London Assembly constituency, returning Unmesh Desai as the directly elected Assembly Member.
UK Parliament The borough is covered by two parliamentary constituencies: Barking and Dagenham and Rainham. The latter was first contested in 2010.
Twin cities London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is twinned with: Witten, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Tczew, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland
Education