JSNA Place

Last updated October 2026. The charts and most of the figures in the text refresh automatically from OHID, GLA, ONS, NHS England, DfE and other national data. Strategies and service descriptions are as at the date shown.

1. Introduction

Note: Some figures and service descriptions in this section have not been updated and may not reflect the latest available data. They are retained to provide context and should be interpreted alongside the more recent indicators presented elsewhere in this chapter. The earnings and claimant figures are current; the deprivation ranks are from the 2025 Indices; the population, migration and poverty figures in the introduction date from before 2022.

The place we live in influences our health. The built environment is human-made environment and provides settings for human activities i.e., work, live and play. It consists of parks, houses, shops, places of worship, factories, and highways. Healthy built environments are walkable and bikeable, include access to diversity of essential and desired services, include green spaces, and places for people to meet and mingle. Such environments support the physical and mental health of the local population by providing a desirable and safe place to live and allows making healthy life choices easier (e.g., exercise, walking, healthier food options, and cycling).

Wandsworth is an Inner London Borough with 22 wards covering an area of 13.23 sq. miles. The Borough has over 30 parks covering a fifth of the area. If all green spaces are included, a quarter of the Borough is covered in green spaces. The Borough also has 5 miles of river front. With the Borough’s good transport links, Wandsworth has a balance of proximity to Central London but with more accessibility to open space and a balance of high rise and low-rise buildings.

The Borough has 5 vibrant town centres - Balham, Clapham Junction, Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth Town. There are large housing and business developments in Wandsworth Town, Battersea and Nine Elms. There is further regeneration on Winstanley and York Road and the Alton Estates. Wandsworth is one of the top Boroughs in London in terms of length of the high street, with over 20 kilometres of high street spread across the Borough ¹.

The Borough is well connected to Central London and other parts of London through public transport. Around two-thirds of residents take public transport to work. Less than 1 in 6 drive to work and car ownership has been decreasing in the Borough with almost half of households not having access to a car.

The largest contribution to our health and well-being is made by social and economic factors, and the environment we live in (figure below). Some factors that determine our health, such as age, gender and genetics, cannot be modified. Other factors, such as the environment, the place in which we live, the health behaviours of individuals and communities, and the impact of social or economic factors, can be modified or mitigated through individual and collective action as well as effective programs and policies.

What determines our health and well-being?

Wandsworth is a large Inner London Borough with a younger, educated and economically active population that is mobile. Wandsworth is home to an estimated 328,828 residents the second highest in Inner London. By 2029 this will increase to more than 373,000, this is one of the fastest growth rates in London:

Local population increase is currently driven by natural change (more births than deaths) and in the next 10 years by large new housing developments e.g., Nine Elms
Of the projected population increase, 60% will happen in 4 wards – Queenstown, Fairfield, St. Mary’s Park and Thamesfield
Wandsworth’s population is one of the youngest in the country, with a median age of 33.7 years (London=35.1) and has one of the highest proportions of populations aged 20–44 years, in London
In the next 10 years the largest increase in number is expected among those aged 20–39 years, driven by people from other parts of UK moving in, but the largest percentage increase will be in age groups 60 years and older with the 85 + growing by 42%
The ethnic minority population will stay relatively similar, around 30% in adults. Among those under 18, children from ethnic minority groups will continue to make up almost 45% of the under 18 population.

Wandsworth’s population is made up of people on the move, that is moving to and from London Boroughs, from other parts of UK, EU and beyond. During the last 10 years, 344,543 people moved into the Borough from within the UK, 360,038 moved out (net=-15,495). A further 66,801 international migrants moved out and 74,678 moved in (7,877). During the same time period there were 56,707 births and 17,010 deaths for a net natural change of +39,697.

Of the almost 150,000 properties in Wandsworth, over two-thirds are flats, and almost a third of households rent privately.

On the 2025 Indices of Deprivation, Wandsworth ranks 193 of 296 local authority districts in England, around the middle of the range nationally, and none of its neighbourhoods are among the 10% most deprived in the country. It sits in the least deprived third of authorities on 4 of the seven domains (Education, Skills and Training, Barriers to Housing and Services, Employment and Health Deprivation and Disability). Its least favourable domain is Living Environment, where it ranks 9 of 296, within the most deprived 5% of authorities. On the Income Deprivation Affecting Older People Index it ranks 26 of 296, among the more deprived authorities in England ². The People chapter gives a fuller profile.

Wandsworth Borough has one of the highest employment rates at almost 80%, which is higher than the London and England averages. Residents are much more likely to be managers, directors, professionals and those in technical jobs (70.4%), compared to London (58.4%). This is because the area is a popular place of residence for those starting jobs in Westminster, the City and Canary Wharf.

Wandsworth performs well compared to other London Boroughs for most indicators, such as pay inequality, low pay, unemployment and housing delivery. The poverty rate of 21.5% is below the London average of 27%. Median gross weekly pay for full-time employees living in the borough was £1,017 in 2025, higher than the London median (£903); the England median was £770. In August 2026, 4.0% of residents aged 16–64 were claiming unemployment-related benefits, lower than London (5.5%) ³.

2. Healthy Environments

The environment in which we live is a key determinant of people’s health and well-being. The planning system plays an important role in influencing the built and natural environment and therefore plays a key role in the physical and mental well-being of the population. A healthy environment can promote well-being and healthy lifestyles for all and can contribute to a reduction in health inequalities.

Unhealthy lifestyles, influenced by the environments in which we live, are contributing to a rise in preventable illnesses such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Prevention of ill-health by helping people to live healthier lives in order to prevent avoidable illness, is a major focus for the health services. Healthy and active people tend to be less dependent on health and social care services so there are tangible economic benefits in encouraging, and making it easy, for the population to lead healthy lifestyles.

Having a clean and healthy environment has a positive impact on people’s health and well-being. Creating a healthy environment includes tackling climate change. Reducing Wandsworth’s emissions is important in terms of protecting current and future residents of the Borough. Poor air quality is an identified cause of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as lung cancer. Access to green open space can increase people’s overall health and well-being. By addressing climate change we can improve the overall sustainability of Wandsworth and improve the health and well-being of residents.

2.1 Air Quality

Air quality affects everyone. Exposure to air pollution and exposure to air pollutants are ubiquitous in the UK and in London. Exposure to these air pollutants has a negative impact on health in a number of ways across the life course, from pre-conception right through to old age. The health impact of air pollution is complex and can cause both short and long-term health problems. The most commonly associated conditions with air pollution are respiratory conditions, such as asthma, cardiovascular disease and lung cancer. However, associations between other conditions such as low birth weight in babies, Type 2 diabetes and dementia have been linked with air pollution, the far-reaching impact is becoming more apparent as evidence emerges.

There is a link between socio-economic deprivation and poor health outcomes due to air pollution which contributes to local health inequalities.

The key pollutants in London which impact on health particularly are nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM) 10 and 2.5 and carbon dioxide (CO2). NOx is a combination of highly reactive gases which form when fuel is burned at a high temperature, it is emitted by fossil fuel vehicles and construction equipment, and industrial sources such as power plants. It impacts on respiratory conditions causing inflammation of the airways at high levels, long-term exposure can decrease lung function and increase the risk of respiratory conditions. PM is often classified into PM10 and PM2.5. These are complex mixtures of non-gaseous particles of varied physical and chemical composition. It is categorised by the size of the particle (for example PM2.5 are particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns, a human hair is 70 to 90 microns in diameter). PM, and especially PM2.5, can penetrate and lodge deep inside the lungs. Chronic exposure to particles contributes to the risk of developing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as lung cancer. It can also make asthma and COPD worse.

Manmade carbon dioxide (CO2) is a gas which is released when burning fossil fuels. It is the main greenhouse gas driving climate change rather than a direct cause of ill health at the levels found outdoors. The local health effects of traffic, such as inflammation of the lungs leading to wheezing, coughing and difficulties with breathing near busy roads, come from nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter emitted alongside it.

The impact of air pollution throughout lifetime

Exposure to air pollution is a risk factor for many different respiratory conditions in children, associations have been shown between air pollution and various forms of asthma, A&E attendances, missed school and steroid dependency due to childhood asthma. Children are more at risk of the detrimental impact of air pollution as their lungs are still developing, and children take more breaths per minute than adults. A study in 2019 estimated that approximately 29% of new cases of childhood asthma in London were attributable to air pollution ⁴.

Air quality is a London wide issue with Inner London Boroughs like Wandsworth affected disproportionally. Locally 6.6% of mortality can be attributed to air pollution, this is higher than England but similar to London. The Borough has seen a sustained decrease in emissions of CO2, NOx and other pollutants over the past decade. The largest local sources are road transport, industrial and commercial and domestic heat and power, and construction.

Around half of London’s air pollution is caused by road transport ⁵. Toxic fumes from vehicles cause thousands of premature deaths every year, and lead to young Londoners growing up with stunted lungs and asthma. Wandsworth is home to seven Air Quality Network pollution analysers: Battersea, Lavender Hill, Putney, Putney High Street, Putney High Street Façade, Tooting High Street and Wandsworth Town Hall.

The table below provides emission estimates for the key pollutants — NOx, PM10, PM2.5 and CO2 — in Wandsworth, comparing 2016 with the latest figures for 2022 ⁶. The LAEI (London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory) estimates emissions of these pollutants by source type. All four pollutants have fallen since 2016 — NOx by around 42% and PM2.5 by around 15% — with road transport, industrial, commercial and domestic heat and power, construction, and (for fine particles) domestic wood burning the largest local sources. Emissions have continued to fall across London in recent years, with total PM2.5 emissions reducing by around 6% between 2019 and 2022, building on a similar 6% fall between 2016 and 2019. Earlier LAEI modelling (2016) found that around 80,900 Wandsworth residents (26% of the population) were exposed to annual average NO2 above the 40µg/m³ objective — lower than Inner London (48%) but much higher than Outer London (3%); roadside concentrations have since fallen markedly following the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).

Wandsworth air pollutant emissions (tonnes) and largest sources, 2016 to 2022

Source: London Datastore - London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (LAEI) 2022

Based on the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory 2016 analysis, out of the 61 primary schools in Wandsworth, 13% (8) of these are located in areas of high air pollution which exceed the NO2 Annual Mean UK Air Quality Strategy limits. This is lower than the total percentage of all primary Schools in London exceeding this metric (20%) . Out of 12 secondary schools in Wandsworth, 17% (2) were exposed to NO2 concentrations in their localities above the air strategy concentration of 40µg/m3.

A selection of local maps with NO2, NOx, PM10 and PM25 and an accompanying dashboard can be found on London Datastore in Borough specific air quality packs.

Air pollution: estimated fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution: In 2024, Wandsworth’s rate was 6.6%, which was the 15th lowest in London, 25.1% higher than the England average and similar to the London average. The latest Borough figure for 2024 was also 27.1% lower than in 2018, in comparison with 25.1% decrease in England’s rate in the equivalent time period.

Source: OHID: Public Health Profiles

Fine particulate matter

Air pollution: fine particulate matter (new method - concentrations of total PM2.5): In 2024, Wandsworth’s rate was 8.9 µg/m3, which was the 15th lowest in London, 25.9% higher than the England average and similar to the London average. The latest Borough figure for 2024 was also 28.1% lower than in 2018, in comparison with 25.8% decrease in England’s rate in the equivalent time period.

Source: OHID: Public Health Profiles

2.2 Climate Change

The overwhelming scientific and political consensus is that human-driven climate change is real, its impacts are already being felt and unless action is taken immediately to address the drivers of climate change then there will be huge impacts on the environment and on society globally.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has, since 1988, spelled out the climate science, highlighting that greenhouse gas emissions must be drastically reduced in order to avoid a global increase in temperature above 2 °C. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, signed in Rio in 1992, set limits on greenhouse emissions. This was followed with the 1997 Kyoto Protocols and 2015 Paris Agreement, setting further binding targets on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Katowice Climate Change Conference in December 2018 and the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C highlighted that the lack of sufficient action over the past 30 years means that immediate action must be taken to prevent a global temperature increase of 1.5 °C. The UK Government amended its Climate Change Act in June 2019 to introduce a legally binding net zero target by 2050.

Data on climate change and Wandsworth

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most common greenhouse gas emitted by human activities in terms of the quantity released and the total impact on global warming. In 2017 this accounted for 81 per cent of the UK greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) . As a result, the term “CO2” or “carbon” is sometimes used as a shorthand expression for all greenhouse gases.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) — which took over this work from the former Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) — produces a breakdown of greenhouse gas emissions by Local Authority area as a subset of its annual inventory of greenhouse gas emissions. This publication combines data from the UK’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory with data from a number of other sources, including local energy consumption statistics, to produce a nationally consistent set of greenhouse gas emissions estimates at Local Authority level from 2005 to 2023 ⁷.

The data shows emissions allocated on an “end-user” basis where emissions are distributed according to the point of energy consumption (or point of emission if not energy related). Except for the energy industry, emissions from the production of goods are assigned to where the production takes place. Therefore, emissions from the production of goods which are exported will be included, and emissions from the production of goods which are imported are excluded.

The DESNZ data (the figure below) shows Wandsworth’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions have more than halved over the past 18 years, from 6.0 tonnes per capita in 2005 to 2.3 tonnes per capita in 2023 — a reduction of around 61%.

Source: DESNZ — UK local authority and regional greenhouse gas emissions national statistics, 2005 to 2023

This is in comparison with a reduction from 7.2 tonnes per capita in 2005 to 3.1 tonnes per capita in 2023 for London, and a reduction from 10.1 tonnes per capita in 2005 to 4.8 tonnes per capita in 2023 for England. Wandsworth’s per capita emissions remain consistently below both the London and England averages throughout the period.

The DESNZ data also offers a sectoral analysis which shows that domestic sources, including domestic electricity and gas usage, remain the single largest contributor to the Borough’s emissions, accounting for 43% in 2023 (the figure below).

Source: DESNZ data

By analysing different sectoral reductions between 2005 and 2023 it is possible to see the largest quantities of emissions reduction came from industry and commercial electricity use (76.4% reduction), and domestic electricity use (69.9% reduction). Together, these account for around 51% of the emissions reductions for Wandsworth according to DESNZ data. This can be attributed to the progress that has been made in the decarbonisation of the national electricity supply.

Wandsworth Council monitors and reports on its emissions. These are published as part of the annual updates with the Wandsworth Environment and Sustainability Strategy.

Tackling climate change in Wandsworth

Note: The figures and service descriptions in this section have not been updated and may not reflect the latest available data. They are retained to provide context and should be interpreted alongside the more recent indicators presented elsewhere in this chapter. The strategy, action plans, climate summit and funding described date from 2019–2021.

On 17th July 2019, Wandsworth Council declared a climate emergency, setting a target to be a carbon neutral organisation by 2030. In January 2020, Councillors in Wandsworth approved an Annual Action Plan, which set out a series of actions to deliver the ambitious ten-year Wandsworth Environment and Sustainability Strategy (WESS).

The Strategy addresses specific areas of action that the Council needs to pursue, including:

making Wandsworth the greenest Inner London Borough by committing the Council to urban greening, planting trees, encouraging biodiversity, protecting and enhancing existing open and green spaces
ensuring that the Council’s planning and development approach is robust on requirements around climate change and environmental issues so that development in the Borough is low carbon, sustainable and does not negatively impact on the environment
drastically reducing the amount of waste produced as an organisation and enhancing the Council’s community leadership role to help and support residents and businesses to regularly reduce, reuse, and recycle
improving the Council’s fleet of vehicles by first making them Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) compliant and then moving to renewable fuel sources
encouraging micro-mobility, such as car sharing, electric scooters and cargo bikes, fulfilling the commitment to improve the electric vehicle infrastructure; and making Wandsworth the easiest place in the country to run an electric car
setting stringent targets around improving air quality
reducing the amount of energy used as an organisation; improving the energy efficiency of housing stock ; and helping residents become more energy efficient
refurbishing Wandsworth Town Hall as a flagship building for energy efficiency, respecting its listed status and highlighting the Council’s eco-credentials
reducing pollution entering the Thames, especially plastics, ensuring the shore of the Thames is clean
building the principles of sustainability in the way goods and services are procured, and encouraging the Council, staff, contractors, and suppliers to improve their own environmental performance.

In order to deliver the Strategy, an Annual Action Plan has been produced, aiming to reduce the Council’s emissions, support the reduction of the Borough’s emissions, and deliver the strategic aims. This plan sets out the benefits of actions including their impact on air quality. The 2021 Action Plan can be found here . The Strategy and the Action Plan are delivered by Officers across the Council who are supported by a dedicated Climate Change Policy Team.

To maintain the rapid pace needed to tackle climate change an Annual Update is published which can be found here.

Whilst the target to be carbon neutral is specific to the Council’s operations, the Strategy and the Annual Action Plan include actions to support residents and businesses reduce their emissions. The Strategy is supported by an in-depth, innovative engagement and behaviour change programme, which supports residents, businesses and partners to improve the environment and reduce emissions. In 2020 a key example of this work was the Wandsworth Climate Summit, attended by over 650 residents.

The work planned and delivered through the Wandsworth Environment and Sustainability Strategy is linked with action to improve air quality , travel and parks.

There are strong links between reducing energy usage and tackling fuel poverty. In order to support residents to make their homes more energy efficient the Council successfully bid for Green Homes Grant funding in 2020 and 2021.

2.3 Built Environment

Where we live influences our health. The built environment is human-made and provides a setting for working, living and playing. These settings range in scale from park, houses, factories to highways. Healthy built environments are walkable and bike-able, include access to diversity of essential and desired services, green spaces, and places for people to meet and mingle. These environments influence the physical and mental health of the local population, making healthy life choices easier including exercise, walking, healthy food options, and cycling.

Healthy streets

The London Boroughs’ Healthy Streets Scorecard is designed to measure progress towards meeting the Mayor’s Transport Strategy ‘healthy streets’ targets. Published annually by the Healthy Streets Scorecard Coalition, it scores every borough out of ten across sixteen measures covering sustainable travel, road safety, road characteristics and traffic.

In the 2026 scorecard, Wandsworth scored 5.27 out of ten, above the London borough average of 4.22. That places the Borough 12th of 32 London boroughs, and 10th of the 13 Inner London boroughs. Its score has risen since the first scorecard in 2019, when it scored 5.17 and ranked 10th, and has fallen since the 2025 edition (5.45).

The Borough scores best on 20mph speed limits, walking rates and pedestrian casualty rates. The measures where it has most ground to make up are low traffic neighbourhoods, protected cycle track and school travel accreditation.

Source: Healthy Streets Scorecard Coalition, London Boroughs Healthy Streets Scorecard 2026. Ranks exclude the City of London, which is scored by the scorecard but is not a London borough.

Housing

There are around 159,000 dwellings in Wandsworth ⁸. The average price of a property was £671,000 in April 2026 ⁹. Most homes in Wandsworth are flats or maisonettes (69%), which is higher than the London average (54%) and around three times the national average (22%). Terraced houses make up 22% of dwellings in Wandsworth, while semi-detached houses account for 7% and detached houses for just 2% ¹⁰.

Home ownership is associated with increased life satisfaction, however only 17.8% of Wandsworth households own their home outright, compared with 20.7% for London and 32.5% for England ¹¹. Average house prices in Wandsworth fell by 5.3% over the year to April 2026 (from £708,000 to £671,000), broadly in line with the wider London market. Even so, at around two and a half times the England average (£270,000), high prices continue to make it difficult for first-time buyers — who paid an average of £568,000 — to get on the property ladder.

More than a third (36.3%) of households rent privately, higher than the Inner London average (34.6%) and well above the figures for London (30.0%) and England (20.5%). The average monthly private rent was £2,599 in May 2026, up 3.6% over the year and higher than the averages for London (£2,294) and the UK (£1,383) ¹². This equates to around £31,200 a year — roughly 57% of the median gross annual pay of a Wandsworth resident working full-time (£54,584 in 2025) ¹³ — meaning that private sector housing remains unaffordable to most people on lower incomes.

Housing estates cover around 10% of the borough’s area, and social housing accounts for around 19% of homes. At the 2021 Census there were 26,544 households in social rented housing, of which 16,653 rented from the council and 9,891 from housing associations and other social landlords ¹¹.

Tenure: Reflecting its inner-London location, Wandsworth has relatively low levels of outright ownership and high levels of private renting. At the 2021 Census, 42.5% of households owned their home (17.8% outright and 24.7% with a mortgage), while a majority — 55.6% — rented, split between 36.3% renting privately and 19.3% in social housing (the table below) ¹¹.

The proportion of Wandsworth households renting privately (36.3%) is higher than across London (30.0%) and well above the England average (20.5%), while the proportion in social housing (19.3%) is lower than across Inner London (31.6%). The share owning outright (17.8%) sits below both the London (20.7%) and England (32.5%) averages, reflecting the borough’s relatively young, mobile population and high housing costs.

Household tenure in Wandsworth, Inner London, London and England, Census 2021

Source: ONS, Census 2021 (Tenure, TS054)

Addressing housing needs

Affordable housing through council-led development

The council’s affordable housing has been progressing well: - 31(14) new homes completed in 2019/20 - 194 (174) further homes are under construction, of which 70 (64) are due to be completed in 2020/21 - 46 have secured planning consent - A further 210 (241) have had planning applications submitted or are due to have planning applications submitted for 2020/21

Regeneration Projects

Alton Regeneration A planning application was submitted for over 1,100 new homes in June 2019. Following comments received from local residents, the GLA and TFL a revised application was submitted in March 2020. Consultation on these revisions commenced in May 2020 (delayed due to COVID-19) and is due to run until July 2020. In September 2019 work commenced on a development in Bessborough Road on the Alton estate, which will deliver 10 new council homes.

Winstanley and York Road In January 2020 Wandsworth council’s planning committee approved the Winstanley and York Road Regeneration scheme. The first phase of the scheme includes the new community hub incorporating the new leisure centre with swimming pools, the improved library and children’s and community centres as well as 502 homes of which 35% are affordable. They also started on site with phase 0 which will provide 46 replacement and homes.

Covid-19 and Housing

The coronavirus pandemic affected how the Council provided services to tenants and kept them safe.

Covid-19 had a serious impact on the issuing and enforcement of evictions. Under emergency legislation, the eviction of tenants and homeowners was suspended from March 2020 until 31 May 2021, other than in exceptional circumstances such as serious anti-social behaviour. The suspension was intended to protect tenants during a period of economic uncertainty, to prevent the threat of homelessness and to limit the spread of infection. Those protections have since ended and evictions again proceed under the ordinary court process.

Wandsworth Council has not enforced any evictions during this period (March 2020 to April 2021). From April to June 2020, following the first national lockdown, the number of repairs orders raised to Wandsworth Council dropped by 48%. However, despite the introduction of a further national lockdown, the number of orders steadily increased back to normal levels from July to December.

As a result of the Coronavirus outbreak, many victims of domestic abuse have faced additional challenges and barriers to accessing support. While self-isolating, families have had to spend extended periods of time with abusers which has escalated the threat of violent and abusive behaviour. Domestic violence in the Wandsworth borough saw an increase of 22% from 2019 to 2020. Domestic abuse is often a hidden crime that is not reported to the police. Therefore, the number of reports can only provide a partial picture of the actual level of domestic abuse experienced in the borough.

2.4 Noise Pollution

Noise pollution is defined as regular exposure to elevated sound levels that may lead to adverse effects. Exposure to hours of constant noise beyond 85 dB may be hazardous.

The percentage of the population exposed to road, rail and air transport noise of 65dB(A) or more, during the daytime: In 2021, Wandsworth’s rate was 13.0% (n=42990), which was the 10th highest in London, 200.4% higher than the England average and 15.2% higher than the London average. The latest Borough figure for 2021 was also 6.6% lower than in 2006, in comparison with 19.9% decrease in England’s rate in the equivalent time period.

Source: OHID: Public Health Profiles

The percentage of the population exposed to road, rail and air transport noise of 55 dB(A) or more during the night-time: In 2021, Wandsworth’s rate was 19.4% (n=63940), which was the 12th highest in London, 130.4% higher than the England average and 7.0% higher than the London average. The latest Borough figure for 2021 was also 0.9% lower than in 2006, in comparison with 34.0% decrease in England’s rate in the equivalent time period.

Source: OHID: Public Health Profiles

The rate of complaints about noise: In 2023/24, Wandsworth’s rate was 13.8 per 1,000 (n=4578), which was the 13th highest in London, 134.4% higher than the England average and 7.5% lower than the London average. The latest Borough figure for 2023/24 was also 15.2% lower than in 2010/11, in comparison with 24.3% decrease in England’s rate in the equivalent time period.

Source: OHID: Public Health Profiles

2.5 Natural Environments

Green space promotes active living and provides important physical, psychological and social health benefits for individuals and the community. Publicly accessible parks including regional, metropolitan, district, local, small, and pocket parks, make up over a quarter (27%) of the total area of Wandsworth ¹⁴.

There are 32 public parks in the Borough including Wandsworth Common, Tooting Bec Common, Wandle Valley, and Battersea Park. The Borough also has five miles of Thames River frontage. There are ten allotment sites in Wandsworth. Eight are managed by Enable Leisure and Culture on behalf of Wandsworth Council. Two are managed by Roehampton Garden Society (RGS).

Biodiversity can increase the benefits that people enjoy from nature. There are 1,600 different species recorded within 27 different habitat types. Several rare and endangered species can be found in Wandsworth including peregrine falcons, black redstarts and stag beetles ¹⁵.

In Wandsworth, 24.4% (76,875) of residents had access to woodland, much higher than London (12.9%) and England (16.8%). In 2015/16, 19.8% of residents reported using outdoor space for exercise and health reasons (London=18.0%, England=17.9%).

3. Healthy Neighbourhoods

The place in which we live influences every aspect of health and well-being. Physical, mental, social and emotional health can all be influenced by the environment. Access to local community facilities, services, shops and meeting places is important in facilitating social interaction and general community well-being and happiness. In line with the Local Plan policy on social and community infrastructure, co-location of community facilities, such as healthcare services and leisure centres, is encouraged.

3.1 Access to Healthy Assets

The Access to Healthy Assets and Hazards Index

Note: The figures and service descriptions in this section have not been updated and may not reflect the latest available data. They are retained to provide context and should be interpreted alongside the more recent indicators presented elsewhere in this chapter. The ranks below are from version 2 of the index (2017). The current version (5.1, May 2026) has not yet been analysed for this chapter.

The Access to Health Assets and Hazards (AHAH) ¹⁶ index from the Geographic Data Science Lab is designed to measure the health of neighbourhoods. The index is multi-dimensional with data being drawn from several sources and used to create an overall AHAH index including four constituent domains:

Retail Environment Domain: proximity to fast food outlets, gambling outlets, pubs/bars/nightclubs, off-licences, tobacconists
Health Services Domain: proximity to GPs, hospitals, pharmacies, dentists, leisure services
Physical Environment Domain: accessibility of passive and active green spaces including parks and recreational spaces; blue space including rivers, canals and lakes
Air Quality Domain: level of nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter and sulphur dioxide.

The AHAH is produced for Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA). On version 2 of the index, when these measures were averaged across Local Authorities (LAs), Wandsworth ranked within the bottom 10% (307/326) of all LAs in England. Although the Borough has good access to healthy lifestyle choices, ranking within the top 5% of LAs for Physical Environment (9/326) and Health Services (11/326). However, it also has access to unhealthy environments, ranking within the bottom 5% of LAs in the Retail Domain (316/326) and the bottom 10% of LAs in the Air Quality Domain (307/326).

Health Care

Whilst the largest contribution to our health is made by social, economic and environmental factors, access to healthcare is important in maintaining the health of the population.

Note: The next list has not been updated and may not reflect the latest available data. It is retained to provide context and should be interpreted alongside the more recent indicators presented elsewhere in this chapter. The counts of pharmacies, GP practices, dental and optician services and care homes are from an earlier JSNA and have not been updated, so they differ from the counts in other chapters.

The Borough has a range of health care assets:

There are 71 pharmacies and 53 GP practices and 13 health centres. 96% of the population has access to a GP by 15 minutes of walking or public transport. There are also 54 dental services and 25 optician Services
St George’s Hospital is a large Teaching Trust which provides community services to residents of Wandsworth, local hospital services and specialist services
Queen Mary Hospital provides various community, clinical health and non-emergency medical services
Royal Hospital for Neurodisability which provides rehabilitation and long-term care for people with complex neurological disabilities
There are 33 residential and nursing care homes in the Borough.

London Output Area Classification

The London Output Area Classification (LOAC) summarises the sociodemographic character of small areas. The 2021 classification, produced by the Consumer Data Research Centre and published through the London Datastore, uses nearly 70 measures from the 2021 Census to sort each of London’s output areas into seven supergroups and sixteen groups. It replaces the 2011 classification previously reported here, so the category names are not comparable with earlier editions of this chapter. These are area-based classifications giving a broad overview; they will not apply to every individual.

Wandsworth contains 1,039 output areas. The dominant supergroup is Professional Employment and Family Lifecycles, covering 35% of them (362 output areas), against 16% across Inner London and 11% across London as a whole. That is the 3rd highest share of any of the 33 London authorities. The next largest supergroups are The Greater London Mix (26%) and Central Connected Professionals and Managers (19%). At the finer group level the Borough is made up mainly of Inner London Working Professionals, Social Rented Sector Pockets and Social Rented Sector Professional Support.

Supergroups notably less common in the Borough than across London are Young Families and Mainstream Employment, Older Residents in Owner-Occupied Suburbs and Suburban Asian Communities.

Source: CDRC, 2021 London Output Area Classification, via the London Datastore (OGL v3); output areas assigned to boroughs using the ONS OA21 to LAD23 lookup.

The descriptions below set out the key attributes of the Borough’s three largest supergroups.

Professional Employment and Family Lifecycles: Predominantly White, educated and secular residents, many employed in professional occupations and living in owned or private rented terraced houses. These neighbourhoods house people of all ages and resident turnover is low.

The Greater London Mix: Neighbourhoods that manifest London’s diversity, scattered throughout the capital, with some tendency towards single people living in flats and a lower than average prevalence of families.

Central Connected Professionals and Managers: Central London neighbourhoods home to a blend of young, educated professionals from diverse backgrounds. Residents are typically aged 25 to 44, working full-time in professional, managerial or associate professional occupations, and living in privately rented flats. There are few families with dependent children.

Workplace Zones

The following analysis uses the 2011 Workplace Zone Classification, based on the workplace population.

Why this section still uses 2011 data. Workplace zones are a small-area geography built from the 2011 Output Areas, and the classification below is the 2011 Workplace Zone Classification. The Office for National Statistics has not produced a 2021 equivalent: because the pandemic affected how people answered questions about their workplace, no Census 2021 origin-destination datasets using workplace zones were released. There is therefore no later version of this analysis to move to.

The workplace population in a Local Authority is defined as the population whose usual place of work is in that Local Authority, including both individuals who live and work in the Local Authority and individuals who work in the Local Authority from a home elsewhere within England.

The Borough has a lower proportion of infrastructure support and city focus which includes manufacturing and transport services (as shown in the table below) ¹⁷.

Source: GLA Datastore hosts an interactive visualization tool.

Local Business Employers

In 2026, Wandsworth was home to 15,275 VAT or PAYE registered enterprises, down from 16,565 in 2021. 92.7% were micro businesses employing fewer than 10 people (London 90.1%), 6.1% were small businesses employing 10 to 49, and 45 were large businesses employing 250 or more ¹⁸. Of the enterprises that formed in 2012, 40% survived for at least five years.

Additional information on local business and employers can be found on DataWand:

By industry, the largest number of enterprises in Wandsworth are professional, scientific and technical (n=5,225; 30.7%), information and communication (n=2,410; 14.2%), and business administration & support services (n=1770; 10.4%).
Gross Value Added (GVA) is the measure of the increase in value of the economy due to the production of goods and services. The Borough’s total GVA in 2017 was £12,916 million. The largest industry group is real estate which contributed £4,941 million to the total GVA.
Apprenticeships are paid jobs that incorporate on-and off-the-job training leading to nationally recognised qualifications. Apprentices can earn as they learn and gain practical skills in the workplace. Apprenticeships achieved refers to the number of apprenticeships successfully completed. In 2017/18, 31.9% of Wandsworth’s apprenticeships were achieved in Health, Public Services and Social Care, 27.7% were achieved in Business, Administration and Law while 17% in Retail and Commercial Enterprise.

Out of Home Meals and Food Environment

Note: The figures and service descriptions in this section have not been updated and may not reflect the latest available data. They are retained to provide context and should be interpreted alongside the more recent indicators presented elsewhere in this chapter. The planning policy references date from 2016–2021. A new Wandsworth Local Plan was adopted in 2023.

Wandsworth has a Local Plan Policy which seeks to restrict the number of hot food takeaways within 400m of state schools or colleges where this could undermine their healthy eating initiatives ¹⁹. The Local Plan was adopted in 2016. The latter clause was the key to the Planning Inspector agreeing that a land use policy is justified ( as a land use intervention) to assist in the implementation of school healthy eating plans. It was based on Government guidance “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Cross Government Strategy for England” which aims to promote healthier communities and encourages Planning Authorities to manage the proliferation of fast food outlets, acknowledging the need for a holistic approach to healthy communities. We also noted at the time that other Boroughs had successfully taken through Examination Local Plan Policies controlling hot food takeaways around schools.

The policy was supported by evidence produced by Public Health Wandsworth at the Local Plan Examination. The policy is supported by a contextual paragraph in the plan, and by more detailed guidance in the Town Centre Uses Supplementary Planning Document ²⁰ to assist in the implementation of the Policy. The SPD sets out more detail with schools’ healthy eating plans and provides more information to assist in decision making. It shows a Borough-wide map (extract below) where schools are plotted with a 400m buffer around them.

This information was mapped on our Geographic information Systems, (GIS) allowing analysis and correlations with census data.

Current national planning policy and guidance continues to identify the need for planning authorities to work with stakeholders to achieve public health outcomes. This approach has been successfully taken forward by other London Boroughs, including Lambeth with which Wandsworth shares 2 local centres - around Lavender Hill/Queenstown Road and at Clapham South (District centres in Lambeth). A joint approach to using these Centres should be agreed. Planning’s role in supporting public health initiatives is set out in National Planning Guidance (NPPG 2019) which clarifies ” Planning and health needs should be considered together in two ways: creating environments that support and encourage healthy lifestyles, and identifying and securing the facilities needed for primary, secondary and tertiary care, and the wider health and care system.

Engagement between plan-making bodies and related organisations will ensure local strategies to improve health and well-being and the provision of the required health infrastructure are supported. It is worth noting public health has been identified as a sustainability issue in the Scoping Report and is one of the 20 sustainability objectives against which new policy options will be assessed.

3.2 Transport and Modes of Travel

Wandsworth is a well-connected Borough with lower levels of car ownership. The majority of residents take public or active models of transportation to work, mainly to the City, Westminster and Canary Wharf.

Lower use of cars and lower volumes of traffic are better for air quality. Use of sustainable modes such as trains, buses, the underground, cycling and walking are associated with more physical activity and lower BMI.

The Borough’s transportation assets include the District and Northern line, bike hire schemes, various train services, Clapham Junction, the River Bus Service. and the imminent extension of the Northern Line. Furthermore, major roads running through the Borough include the A3, A24, A214 and A205. There are also five bridges that allow easy access between the south and north of the river.

Modes of Travel to Work

Read this section with care. The 2021 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, during a national lockdown. Its travel-to-work answers describe how people travelled in that particular week, not how they normally commute, and they cannot be compared with the 2011 Census as a trend. They are reported here because they are the most recent official figures for the Borough, but the current picture of commuting should be taken from Transport for London’s travel survey, which is annual and post-pandemic.

In 2021, there were an estimated 108,000 people in Wandsworth who worked mainly at, or from, their homes. This figure was 56.5% of all usual residents aged 16 years and over in employment, in comparison with the London average of 42.1% and the England average of 31.5% ²¹.

That figure is a direct consequence of when the Census was taken. Of the residents who did travel to work, public transport was the most common means, at around 20% of all those in employment, more than twice the 9% who drove a car or van; a further 11% walked or cycled, as shown in the figure below.

Source: ONS. Travel to work, England and Wales: Census 2021

While Wandsworth is well connected, it has the third lowest Public Transport Accessibility Levels in Inner London ²². Access is also variable across the Borough. Access to frequent and a variety of transport is higher along the river and the Northern line corridor ²³. Public transport use is likely to be even higher with improved availability.

Vehicle Ownership and Traffic

Road traffic and the number of vehicles in Wandsworth are decreasing. Fewer households have cars because people are taking public transport to reach work locations better served by this option compared to driving and parking.

According to the 2011 Census, 45% of Wandsworth households did not have access to a car or van. The proportion of one car households in Wandsworth (43%) was similar to London (41%), and England (42%). The households with multiple cars were much less common in Wandsworth (12%), compared to London (18%) and England (32%).

Car registrations and miles travelled are declining which will positively impact the local air quality.

Motor vehicles travelled an estimated 736 million vehicle kilometres on roads in Wandsworth in 2025, 539 million of them by cars and taxis. That is 26% fewer than in 1993 (990 million) and lower than the pre-pandemic level of 803 million in 2019 ²⁴.

In 2018, there were 81,981 private or light good vehicles registered in Wandsworth compared to 122,920 in year 2000, a decrease of 33%. This was the second largest decrease in London after the City of London ²⁵.

Active Travel

People who commute actively by cycling or walking tend to have greater levels of physical activity ²⁶ than those who travel by car. This complements findings that active travel reduces the risk of morbidity and mortality from chronic diseases ²⁷. Walking and cycling can also mitigate the harmful effects of motorised travel, such as traffic congestion, air pollution ²⁸, and health problems ²⁹.

There is an urgent requirement to consult and co-produce a Wandsworth Active Travel Strategy. Active travel is even more important in response to the pandemic and climate emergency, declared by the Council in 2020. An Active Travel Strategy should recognise that walking plays an important part in urban life and is part of almost all journeys, either complete or as a link between other modes of transport. In Wandsworth, the proportion of residents regularly undertaking travel by active methods (walking and cycling) is higher than the London average. Across London, the rate of active travel has been increasing steadily since 2006.

Wandsworth active travel should seek to apply for Transport for London’s Healthy Streets Approach ³⁰. TfL’s two key action plans around walking and cycling include:

TfL’s Walking Action Plan

This plan ³¹ encourages walking through the following four themes:

Building and managing walking friendly streets
Planning and designing for walking
Integrating walking with public transport
Leading a culture change which encourages walking.

To get more people walking it is essential to create attractive places, facilitate better interchanges with public transport, and the promotion of walking.

TfL’s Cycling Action Plan

This plan ³² aims to increase the number of trips made by cycling and to expand the cycle network to reach more Londoners. The barriers outlined in the Richmond Active Travel Strategy highlight the importance of providing a safe, secure and continuous cycle network, and support and training to enable people to use the infrastructure. TfL’s Cycling Action Plan has four categories:

Streets that enable cycling
Making it easy to get around by bicycle
Promoting cycling for all Londoners
Wider action through the Mayor’s Transport Strategy.

The Council in developing its’ future Active Travel Strategy will consider:

supporting and promoting local walking and cycling trips, making them priority modes of travel along with buses as part of a Borough campaign and social movement approach
staff across social care and health to present active travel as a way for their clients and patients to improve their health and well-being
promoting greater and better connectivity
increasing the local cycle network by creating links between the zones as identified in the Cycle Network Review ³³
creation of a third Local Implementation Plan (LIP) explicitly stating Wandsworth’ commitment to the delivery of outcomes included within the Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS)
A host of specific proposals to develop and support the infrastructure and wider system foster active travel for example:
- how to support local employers/ workplaces help and support their staff take up active travel in particular promoting the try before you buy scheme that could be supported through London Implementation plan for all employees and students in the Borough
- increase the Dr Bike scheme
- promote cycle safety and training
- ensure Active Travel is a key component of Active Wandsworth Strategy.

Road Casualties

Killed and seriously injured casualties on England’s roads: In 2024, Wandsworth’s rate was 356.4 per billion vehicle miles (n=163), which was the 9th highest in London, 297.0% higher than the England average and 93.6% higher than the London average. The latest Borough figure for 2024 was also 17.7% higher than in 2017, in comparison with 3.4% decrease in England’s rate in the equivalent time period.

Source: OHID: Public Health Profiles

Children killed and seriously injured (KSI) on England’s roads: In 2021 - 23, Wandsworth’s rate was 13.7 per 100,000 (n=22), which was the 13th highest in London, 30.3% lower than the England average and 9.5% higher than the London average. The latest Borough figure for 2021 - 23 was also 18.5% lower than in 2011 - 13, in comparison with 26.4% decrease in England’s rate in the equivalent time period.

Source: OHID: Public Health Profiles

4. Arts, Culture and Leisure

The World Health Organisation and the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Well-being, have highlighted evidence that shows the symbiotic relationship between taking part in cultural and creative activities and improvements in health both mental and physical. Within London, University College London, UCL Institute of Health Equity’s research has demonstrated how after engaging with the arts, 79% of people in deprived communities in London ate more healthily, 77% of them engaged in more physical activity, and 82% enjoyed greater well-being ³⁴.

Wandsworth’s Arts and Culture Strategy from 2021–31 sets out the council’s vision for the role of culture through seven goals including place-shaping, economic growth, communities and partnerships, learning and education, health and wellbeing, and sustainability of inspiration to support people to live healthy, fulfilled and independent lives. Within the health and wellbeing goal, the focus is on how the cultural sector will work with the Council’s Adult Social Care, Children’s Services, and the Health and Well-being Board to:

ensure that all under 5s have access to creative play and cultural experiences to give them with best start in life
linking with the Health and Care Plan’s start well theme to embed arts and culture in the support offered to young people
linking with the Health and Care Plan’s live well theme to improve residents’ well-being through cultural engagement, including improving their happiness levels
linking with the Health and Care Plan’s Age Well to improve cognitive functioning, communication, self-esteem, enjoyment of life, memory, and creative thinking, as well as facilitating and supporting intergenerational social contact
develop partnerships with health service providers and universities to co-fund and deliver creative programmes and strategies
develop a varied high-quality cultural prescription offer as part of a social prescribing model to support prevention and reduce residents’ need for medical interventions (such as mental health issues, dementia, reducing pain medication, or tackling obesity and loneliness)
work with Adult Social Care, NHS South West London Integrated Care Board (which replaced the Clinical Commissioning Group in July 2022), and Public Health to develop cultural commissioning so that successful programmes can become sustainable and long term offers.

Working with Emergency Exit Arts, the Council has commissioned the Lounge to come to Roehampton over a number of years (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2019). These programmes worked with residents at different stages in their lives to support wellbeing and happiness.

Battersea Arts Centre, the world’s first Relaxed Venue, is committed to embedding access and inclusivity across all their activities. This journey has taken the principles of Relaxed Performances and applied them across all of an organisation’s spaces and programmes, working with staff at every level to identify disabling barriers and to develop creative solutions to them. Image credit: Bursteardrum.

The new Arts and Culture Strategy defines culture as including dance, music, theatre, visual arts, combined arts, architecture, crafts, fashion, film, literature, museums, heritage collections and culinary art. It does not cover libraries, parks or sports but does link closely with libraries when they act as cultural hubs as well as the wide range of events and activities that take place in Wandsworth’s 32 parks. People will be encouraged to visit and enjoy these spaces.

Within Wandsworth, the majority of the population (87%) are culturally active but there are notable pockets within the Borough where (13%) residents have little cultural or creative engagement. The Council and Cultural Organisations are considering how they can engage these communities with mainstream cultural activities. Co-creation for developing cultural activities should support community cohesion. Specifically, this is approach is being undertaken on the Alton estate in Roehampton and on the Winstanley estate by Clapham Junction.

Social prescribing programmes often led to better results such as shorter period of illness, less need for medication, and saving the NHS money. A report by the former Wandsworth Clinical Commissioning Group, whose functions passed to NHS South West London Integrated Care Board in July 2022, estimated that a pilot Wandsworth Community Arts Service working with 100 patients with mild and moderate mental health conditions (depression, stress and anxiety) could save at least £74,000 per year ³⁵. Arts-on-prescription projects in other parts of the UK have led to 37% drop in GP consultation rates and a 27% reduction in hospital admissions, saving of £216 per patient. Wandsworth has a small number of programmes being delivered through St George’s Hospital such as Dance for Parkinson’s, theatre sessions for those with young onset dementia, dance for patients with a neurodisability at the Royal Hospital of Neurodisability in Roehampton, psychotherapeutic therapies (music, drama, art and play) to support mental well-being in young people and adults at the University of Roehampton’s Whiteland clinic. While Wandsworth introduced social prescribing, the aim is to further develop a sustained and strategic approach to support the whole health spectrum, from prevention, supporting people recovering from ill health, and helping people living with long term conditions.

St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has a strong arts offer, delivering a wide range of engaging arts programmes to support patients, families and staff. This photograph shows Dancing with Parkinson’s classes with Danielle Teale Dance. Image Credit: Benedict Johnson Photography.

Putney School of Art and Design (PSAD), managed by Enable Leisure and Culture, provide a range of free outreach sessions to support people’s wellbeing such as this session at the Katherine Low Settlement in 2018. Image courtesy of PSAD.

Cultural fixtures, arts, religious and leisure facilities have a positive impact on health and well-being of local communities. Wandsworth benefits from a range of events such as the Get Active Wandsworth Festival, Wandsworth Arts Fringe, Wandsworth Heritage Festival, Wandsworth Artists’ Open House and the Feel Good Festival.

There are 65 cultural organisations and at least 2860 creative organisations based in Wandsworth (as shown on the map below). Key organisations based in the Borough include Battersea Arts Centre, Matt’s Gallery, National Opera Studio, Oily Cart, Putney Arts Theatre, Putney School of Art and Design, Royal Academy of Dance, Royal College of Art, Sprout Art, Tara Arts Theatre, Tavaziva Dance, Theatre 503, Turbine Theatre, Wandsworth Music, and World Heart Beat Music Academy.

Location of cultural organisations in Wandsworth

Landmarks: There are many landmarks in the Borough which can be enjoyed, including Battersea Power Station, London Heliport, Young’s Brewery and the Peace Pagoda. Battersea Park is also a venue for many events including the Battersea Park Dog Show, Live at the Bandstand, and the London Motor Show.

Libraries: There are 11 libraries in the Borough offering local residents various local services, with further electronic library services (e-books and audiobooks) available across the Borough.

Places of Worship: There are 88 places of worship in Wandsworth. Beyond their religious role, many act as gathering places for community events. This may be as underestimate as other places of informal gatherings may not be listed. The detailed breakdown by group can be found on the Councils website ³⁶.

Vibrant Town Centres: Vibrant town centres offer easy access to services, foster social interactions and support the local economy. Having easy to reach and diverse services encourages residents to walk, run errands and meet-up with friends and family. These offer an alternative to cars, increasing physical activity and helping to keep the air clean. These centres include Balham, Clapham Junction, Putney, Tooting, Wandsworth.

Sports and Leisure Venues: There are 8 sports centres, 4 leisure centres, 5 swimming polls including the Tooting Bec Lido, 16 sports pitches and 10 areas with tennis courts.

Wandsworth Council worked with Arts Council England to pilot the Joint Cultural Needs Assessment framework on DataWand, cross referencing cultural provision and gaps in provision against other social and economic needs. The current position of this work should be confirmed with the culture team.

4.1 Wandsworth Arts and Culture Health and Wellbeing Case Studies

In 2021 Wandsworth Council published a ten year Arts and Culture Strategy, including a range of case studies. It builds upon the strong foundations that have been laid by the Council, Cultural Organisations, residents and community groups create a myriad of vibrant creative offers. As programmes develop and are delivered more local case studies will be added to https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/arts/arts-and-culture-strategy/.

Case Study: Wandsworth Music Community Choir

Wandsworth Community Choir (WCC) was formed in April 2018 after demand from the many parents and carers, teachers, and Head teachers who had engaged with Wandsworth Music singing projects in schools. The choir was established by Wandsworth Music in partnership with Lifelong Learning as a community choir open to all people who live or work in Wandsworth. There are no auditions, no fees, and no previous experience is required. Members come from all walks of life and with varying degrees of singing experience, some have sung in choirs all their lives whilst for others it is their first experience of being part of a choir.

The choir is run by a dynamic team from Wandsworth Music who facilitate a fun, safe and friendly environment in which to learn some great songs, take part in performances, and enjoy the many positive mental health, social and wellbeing benefits of singing with others.

Since its formation, WCC has taken part in a variety of events such as the Tooting Food Festival, the Furzedown Festival, and Wandsworth Music Academy Summer Fair. WCC has also taken part in Borough-wide events, such as the Lifelong Learning Annual Awards Ceremony, Winter Sounds at Fairfield Halls, and Brighter Sounds at the Royal Festival Hall.

Over the last two-and-a-half years the choir has steadily grown in numbers, there have been 90 members on the choir register. The choir offers a space for connection, collaboration, a sense of wellbeing, and a real feel-good factor. This is evident in the feedback from members who openly share the impact that coming together and meeting once a week for a good sing has improved their mental health, wellbeing, self-confidence, and self-esteem.

Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic sadly meant an end of face-to-face rehearsals in March 2020, the choir has continued to meet weekly online. Although all the benefits of coming together as a singing community can never be entirely replicated online, the joy of meeting, seeing each other’s faces and sharing a joint love of singing was felt every week.

WCC met online throughout the pandemic, produced its own video and took part in the virtual Wandsworth Music Winter Sounds concert in December 2020, performing alongside singers from the National Opera Studio, Wandsworth Music Academy and Wandsworth schools. The case studies in this section date from 2020 and should be refreshed or replaced by the culture team.

Case Study: Reimagining Theatre for Young Audiences

Oily Cart challenges the accepted definitions of theatre and audience by creating innovative and highly interactive sensory theatre productions for disabled children, and young people who experience multiple barriers to access.

Each year, Oily Cart, based in Wandsworth, tours two original productions to over 5,000 children, young people, their families and carers across the UK. Working with the specialist schools in the Borough and local families, Oily Cart tailor their performances to individual children and young people with a focus on access and engagement. They also produce accessible family shows that provide opportunities for the integration of both disabled and non-disabled audiences.

For almost forty years Oily Cart have played a key role in supporting young people, demonstrating their absolute commitment to:

making a positive difference to the lives of disabled children, young people and their families
encouraging participation and enjoyment in cultural activity for disabled children and young people who face complex barriers to engagement
providing shared social experiences where families can participate together
responding to significant demand from specialist school and family audiences where there is a serious gap in cultural provision for these audiences
raising the public and cultural profile of these audiences and the importance of cultural provision for them
placing the disabled child or young person as the reason for and the central focus of the work.

“Every child’s need was met. We saw reactions in some children that we hadn’t experienced before. Very emotional and very moving!” Audience feedback from Oily Cart’s ‘Splish Splash’ show.

“I have taken my daughter to five different Oily Cart shows and each time I am reduced to tears. Tears of relief that a group of talented artists actually want to work with children like mine and are attuned to awakening interest and enjoyment in a wide variety of needs. In an Oily Cart show, everyone is equal. You cannot put a price on the feeling of acceptance and pride in seeing your child take part in a performance with people they haven’t met before; these are valuable skills being taught beyond just the experience of the show.” Audience Member.

Over the pandemic Oily Cart have taken their Doorstep Jamboree on tour across London to families with children needing to shield. Image credit: Suzi Corker.

Splish Slash, an Oily Cart and National Theatre Wales coproduction. Image credit: Suzi Corker.

Case Study: Supporting People with Neurodivergent Needs

CoDa Dance Company is a unique contemporary dance company specialising in thought-provoking outdoor and site-specific performances, participatory community work, and utilising dance as a physiotherapy tool for neurodisabled people. CoDa has been creating work for, by, and with the local community in Wandsworth since 2013, with a specific focus on Roehampton and Putney wards.

In 2018, using funding from the Wandsworth Grant Fund, CoDa established a pilot programme at the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability (RHN) in Wandsworth. The workshops were designed to give patients, family members and carers a space to increase their physical activity, improve mood and wellbeing, and increase social interaction within the hospital. The sessions were also designed to help family members and carers gain insights into the lives of people living with neurological conditions. Three years on, the pilot programme has turned into an established programme, funded by the hospital, and delivered regularly in a number of wards, and in two of the residential wards to 100+ patients a year.

Most recently, and partly in response to Covid 19, CoDa is creating work that will be able to be viewed through digital technology. They will continue to develop work that sheds light on the unique and unusual symptoms experienced by people living with neurodisabilities. CoDa works closely with creative consultants who are people living with neurodisabilities to enhance audience experiences, the stories we tell, and how they are told.

Case Study: Happy Streets

Happy Streets was an outdoor arts festival, focused on community cohesion and wellbeing, that took place for the first time in July 2019. The first festival celebrated the completion of Yinka Ilori’s colourful redesign of a railway underpass on Thessaly Road, a key north-south route in Nine Elms that links the Savona, Patmore and Carey Gardens estates.

The transformation of what had been an unwelcoming pedestrian underpass was the starting point. Following a design competition, held in partnership with the London Festival of Architecture, Wandsworth Council commissioned Yinka Ilori’s ‘Happy Street’ design in November 2018 to brighten up the dark underpass, used daily by residents, schoolchildren and commuters.

From the outset, community engagement was at the heart of this project. Residents were invited to view a shortlist of six designs at the ROSE Community Clubroom and offer their comments and preference on whose design they wanted to see brought to life in person or online. Pupils from St. George’s School were then invited to meet with Yinka Ilori as he finalised his winning design.

In early 2019, the Council commissioned a new solo exhibition from Ilori, ‘Types of Happiness’. This was presented in a pop-up gallery space run in partnership with the Royal College of Art, thereby introducing more of the local community to his work and giving people a chance to get familiar with his proposed underpass design. A series of community engagement workshops were held, offering everything from hands-on architectural activities to colouring-in mural activities.

Work on the underpass was completed in July 2019, when a festival was held in the outdoor and public spaces either side of the bridge, spilling out into the surrounding streets, to celebrate its transformation. The Happy Streets festival took over four venues (the playground spaces of St George’s School, a ball court, and two community centres), encouraging people to move through the newly improved underpass throughout the day. The festival programme included 46 performances, participatory events and workshop opportunities, themed around happiness and wellbeing, including taster sessions of activities that were available locally for residents and could help improve neighbourliness and longer-term wellbeing, such as musical instrument learning, dancing or gardening. The content of the festival was developed hand-in-hand with local artists and community groups, bringing together local choreographers, beat-boxers, church groups, puppeteers, gardening groups, café owners and musicians, alongside professional artists and arts organisations from further afield.

Happy Streets was entirely free to attend, with all events wheelchair accessible and BSL-interpreted. Brochures were hand-delivered in advance to every residential address in the local neighbourhoods, including existing estates and new developments; attendance totalled 1872 during the afternoon.

Happy Streets provided a crucible for residents, community groups and organisations of different kinds, to meet each other through their participation in the day. As two participants commented “It was fantastic! What a great way for the whole community to get together. We met some really interesting people on the day and found out about other things happening in the area, i.e., with St George’s school and church,” and “It makes it feel as if it’s an area that is not forgotten but celebrated.”

Image Credits: Top Image Yinka Ilori’s ‘Happy Street’ designed to brighten up the dark underpass, used daily by residents, school children and commuters. Below image: World Heart Beat leading a procession through the underpass as part of the Happy Street Festival in 2019

Case Study: Breaking Down Barriers into Music for Young People from Diverse Backgrounds

World Heart Beat (WHB) was founded in 2009 in an old, converted warehouse in Southfields to address the lack of free and affordable music tuition available to South London’s most disadvantaged young people. They have become one of the UK’s leading music hubs, continuing to support young people in Wandsworth. They are renowned for their inclusive global music programme, youth-led approach and the pathways they open up to conservatoires and music careers for diverse young talent. WHB also place a strong focus on how creating music supports young people’s mental health as well as their personal development.

From an intake of 70 students in 2010, they have grown to 370 students in 2019–2020. Each year they:

inspire 2,000 young people to take up an instrument, often for the first time, through taster sessions delivered with more advanced students in schools and community settings in some of Wandsworth’s most deprived areas
support 370 young people aged 5–25 to develop their musical and performance skills through 1:1 and group teaching and band ensembles. By offering a repertoire that includes Asian, Jazz, Gospel, Eastern European, Gypsy, Latin, Reggae and Tabla genres, they reflect the diversity of the Borough and its large Asian, African, and Caribbean population. They have established a diverse student body, with 70% identifying as ethnically diverse and over half receiving full bursaries and free instruments
provide professional development to 30 exceptional young musicians aged 15–25 as part of the Music Leaders Students Programme. Music Leaders students receive mentoring from professionals, training in vocational music and production, and are given opportunities to perform, record and curate and produce concerts and events for the local community. The Music Leaders students also serve as role models for younger students, providing mentoring and training and co-delivering our taster workshops. 70% of WHB’s Music Leader students now study at top music conservatoires/universities, have secured professional roles in the music/ creative industries, or have been recruited to training programmes in other sectors, and twelve of WHB’s teachers are past alumni.

In Autumn 2021, WHB will be opening a second performance hub and education centre in Embassy Gardens as one of the Nine Elms cultural anchor tenants, in a space provided by Eco-World Ballymore on a 50-year peppercorn lease. The new Academy will serve as an important cultural anchor in a rapidly changing neighbourhood, addressing the lack of accessible grassroots music venues in South London, and delivering a programme of over 100 concerts and events each year. The new space will enable WHB to double the number of students they can work with and extend their focus to marginalised young people.

“Having something you can do, to be passionate about, a skill you can develop and really hone, makes such a difference. It helps you navigate through all the negative distractions and influences growing up and gives you belief and confidence that you can succeed. Without music, the saxophone, the friends that I had in music and the role models I found at World Heart Beat I would not be where I am today.” Kwabena, 23yrs

5. Healthy Communities

5.1 Utilisation of Outdoor Space for Exercise/Health Reasons

Utilisation of outdoor space for exercise or health reasons: In Mar 2015 - Feb 2016, Wandsworth’s rate was 19.8%, which was the 7th highest in London, 10.3% higher than the England average and 9.6% higher than the London average. The latest Borough figure for Mar 2015 - Feb 2016 was also 33.1% higher than in Mar 2011 - Feb 2012, in comparison with 27.8% increase in England’s rate in the equivalent time period.

Source: OHID: Public Health Profiles

5.2 Crime and Community Safety

Note: Some figures and service descriptions in this section have not been updated and may not reflect the latest available data. They are retained to provide context and should be interpreted alongside the more recent indicators presented elsewhere in this chapter. The violence rate below is current. The other crime, violence and anti-social behaviour figures date from 2016 to 2021 and come from police and Community Safety Partnership reports that do not refresh automatically. References to “last year”, “the past 12 months” or “the past year” describe the period before 2020, not the present.

The most recent comparable measure is the rate of violence offences recorded by the police: 20.3 per 1,000 residents in 2024/25 (6,788 offences in the year), lower than London (26.4) and lower than England (31.4). The rate has fallen from 22.6 in 2023/24 ³⁷.

Additional ward level crime data can be found on DataWand.

Wandsworth is the safest Inner London Borough. There have been four consecutive years of crime increase in London, and this is also the case in Wandsworth. This increase has been driven by rises in violence and property crime. Wandsworth’s crime increases last year (+3.7%) were slightly higher than London (1.2%). Local offence rates in the Borough (81 per 1000 residents) is lower than Inner London (119) and London (94).

There have been increases across most crime types. Over 12 months, the highest increases were seen in robbery, burglary and violent crime. Theft offences (including vehicle crime) continue to account for the highest proportion of total offences, but violent crime now accounts for almost 1 in 3 offences, an increase from 1 in 4, four years earlier.

Violence

More than 30% of crimes in the Borough in the last 12 months were classified as ‘Violence against the Person’ of which 30% involved injury. The 10% increase in violence against the person over the past year is greater than the increase in London or Inner London and is likely to have been influenced by the overall rises in crime. Despite this, Wandsworth’s rate of 7.56 offences per 1,000 residents remains lower than the rates of London (8.64) and Inner London (10.11).

Knife Crime

Knife Crime is a continuing concern across London and England due to increasing levels of offending in what is one of the most serious, potentially fatal crime types. Wandsworth has not been immune to this trend as the Borough is located near to Westminster, Southwark and Lambeth, which in terms of volume are among the worst 5 affected in London. Knife crime offences are not limited to stabbings, with the majority relating to offences where knives were intimated or used as a threat.

Last year, Wandsworth saw a 17% increase in knife crime, much higher than Inner London (2.3%) and London (1.2%) increases. However, the rate of knife crime (1.36 offences per 1,000) remains below the London average (1.65) and the lowest in Inner London for the 4th consecutive year. A third of described suspects were from ethnic minority groups and aged 10–25 years.

Burglary

Burglaries have increased in Wandsworth. The number went up from 2,286 in 2015/16 to 2,324 in 2016/17 (2% increase) and 2,687 in 2017/18 (16% increase). The Wandsworth rate of burglary is lower than Inner London.

Personal Robbery

Personal property robbery has been increasing for the past three years. In 2017/18 there were 729 personal robbery cases, an increase of 18% compared to 2016/17. However, the Borough still has lower rate than Inner London and remains ranked in Quartile 1.

Reoffending

Substance dependence and misuse contribute to offending and reoffending. For those individuals drug tested by police upon arrest, 57% (n=223) tested positive. This rose to 61% for those individuals tested because their offence type was more likely to be linked to drug or substance abuse. Ambulance services continue to respond to large numbers of events in Wandsworth where drugs (n= 578) and alcohol (n=2,208) are a factor in injuries, violence or intoxication. From April 2017 to March 2018, 16% (n=20) of adults with a substance misuse treatment need were engaged in community-based structured treatment following release from prison, lower than London (21.9%) and England (32.1%).

Violence Against Women and Girls

The increasing trend in domestic abuse has continued with an 8.1% rise over 12 months. The long-term increase is higher than experienced in London. This is believed to be heavily influenced by a change in police and victim reporting practices.

The Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) meets monthly to discuss and manage the highest risk cases of domestic violence in the Borough. There were 328 cases over the past 12 months, a 24% rise on the previous 12-month period. Half of the cases involved a victim from an ethnic minority group. While the largest increases were in the under 25 (n=49) and over 65(n=24), the most common age group remained 25–34 (n=108). Mental health and substance misuse were a common theme among victims and suspects.

Increases in sexual offending reporting are believed to be linked to the changes in recording and reporting practices. Overall, the rate of reported offending remains the lowest in Inner London. 34% of incidents are classified as rape and the remaining 66% as other sexual offences. Non-historic offences show a reduction in victims under 18, and 62% were reported as occurring between known parties.

Keeping Children and Young People Safe

Over the last 12 months, there has been a slight increase in the number of young victims of crime (n=1,109) but a reduction in the number of young suspects (n=1,569) and young people accused of a crime (n=250). Nevertheless, young people, particularly those aged 10–17, remain disproportionally affected by crime in Wandsworth. For young victims, this is most evident within the crime types of violence, sexual offences and robbery. There continues to be an overrepresentation of young people from ethnic minority groups suspected or accused of crime. During 2017/18 there were 72 first time entrants to the Youth Justice System, a 5% decline compared to the previous year. There has been a steady decline over the last 10 years. The rate per 100,000 10–17-year-olds is 332 and though this is an improvement and lower than the London average (353), it has regressed to the 4th lowest In Inner London having previously been the 2nd lowest.

Hate Crime

Rates of hate crime in Wandsworth are lower than those throughout Inner and Greater London. The majority (almost 4 in 5) of hate crimes in the Borough over the last 12 months (n=489) were racist in nature. These crimes saw a decrease of 3% compared to the year before. Considering only racist and religious hate crimes, the Borough’s rate was 151 per 100,000 residents, lower than Inner London (237) and London (183). Locally, and regionally, there was an increase in reports of homophobic hate crime which increased to 73 from 62 the year before.

There is an over-representation of ethnic minority victims of hate crime. Incident hotspots are frequently in and around public places such as town centres. The majority of hate crimes involving offensive language as an aggravating level of assault remains low.

Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB)

Tackling crime and anti-social behaviour requires a problem-solving approach and the joint working of agencies across different sectors. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 requires the Local Authority to form a statutory partnership which is known as the Wandsworth Community Safety and Youth Offending Partnership Board. The Board has developed a strategy to deal with the prevention of crime, reducing reoffending and serious violence, substance misuse, and anti-social behaviour. This will be refreshed for the following 3 years in line with the next Mayor’s Policing and Crime Plan.

Wandsworth Council produces an annual Community Safety Strategic Needs Assessment, a statutory annual analysis of crime and disorder to inform the Community Safety Partnership Plan. The following priorities were taken from the 2019 needs assessment with data covering a 5-year period Jan 2015 – Dec 2019:

Motor Vehicle Crime
Burglary
Anti-Social Behaviour.

Crime and Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) have a direct impact on people’s health, well-being and lifestyle. Becoming a victim of crime can affect people differently. The recovery following a crime can be challenging especially if the criminal justice process is lengthy. If the person is already affected by an existing mental health need, then this could impact their recovery time and the impact of the crime could feel even worse.

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) affects many people and can have an impact on a person, their home and their community. People may think that an incident is small to start with, but anti-social behaviour can go on for a long time and become very serious. Not all anti-social behaviour is classed as crime but some of it can lead to crime.

The Annual Strategic Needs Assessment concluded that Wandsworth has the lowest crime rate in Inner London and although crime increased by 1.4% in 2019, it was still below London (+8.7%) and Inner London (+11.6%).

The figure below shows Wandsworth’s notifiable offences by Ward.

Total Notifiable Offences (All Crime), by Ward Jan-Dec 2019, Wandsworth

Source: Metropolitan Police Service, Crime Data Dashboard, December 2020

Reports of anti-social behaviour received by the police in Wandsworth increased by 12% in 2019, to a total of 7,475, the same rate of increase as London (12%). The most affected wards remained Graveney, Latchmere and Tooting, (the figure below).

Anti-social Behaviour, by Ward Jan-Dec 2019, Wandsworth

Source: Metropolitan Police Service, DARIS (Demand and Resource Information System) data extract, March 2020

Community Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference

The Community Safety Service with the local police oversee the Community Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (CMARAC). This event considers high risk and complex residents who are at greatest risk of harm, in order to put together a multi- agency plan to provide support and intervention. Referrals can be received from professionals where an individual is causing harm to themselves or others in the community.

The agencies present also have the option for enforcement in using a Community Protection Notice Warning (CPNW), Community Protection Notice (CPN), Injunction, Possession Proceedings, Closure Notices, Closure Orders and Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO). Although they would first consider alternative options of support, enforcement action usually involves positive requirements for an individual to engage with substance misuse or mental health services.

The Community Trigger (also known as the ASB Case Review), gives victims of persistent anti-social behaviour (reported to the responsible agencies such as the council, police, housing provider) the right to request a multi-agency case review where the local threshold is met under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

Crimes Against the Elderly

In Wandsworth, there is a Crimes Against the Elderly Forum which meet every 6 weeks to look at crime trends and scams affecting the older community. They look at ways of ensuring older residents feel safe in their homes and outside. Unfortunately, Covid 19 prevented some of the planned such as the forum visiting sheltered accommodation clubrooms and day care centres. However, during Winter nights, Age UK in Wandsworth arranged for 1,000 care packs to be delivered to elderly residents by the London Fire Brigade. The packs were supplied by the Community Safety Service and included information on scams and how to avoid becoming a victim.

ECINS & Online Watch Link, OWL

The Community Safety Service has two digital products which help with our approach to tackling crime and disorder across the Borough. A new Online Watch Link (OWL) system which residents can sign up to and receive alert messages straight from their local police and council offices. A new CCTV Watch through this system has supported the police with their investigations.

The multi-agency case management system, E-CINS, allows agencies to share information on locations such as crime hot spots, and high-risk individuals. This will improve information sharing across sectors, and prevention of crime. The high-risk cases presented at a forum such as the Community MARAC often have complex needs such as dual diagnosis.

Offenders

Adult Offending & Re-offending

A minority of individuals are responsible for a disproportionate number of offences. The reduction of reoffending is of major importance for the safety of the local communities.

Ministry of Justice data shows that the re-offending rate for adult offenders in Wandsworth was 26%, lower than last year (29%). The proportion remains similar to London (27%) and England and Wales (28%).

In January 2019, the Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) had 426 cases in Wandsworth, 19% lower than November 2017.

The latest data (January 2019) from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) shows that 26% of adult offenders in Wandsworth went on to reoffend, a slightly lower proportion than both London and England, and a reduction compared to the previous year’s cohort (the table below). The rate of reoffences remained constant between cohorts. Concurrently, the London rate increased to match the Wandsworth rate and the England rate exceeded both.

Proven adult reoffending, Apr 2015–Mar 2016 and Apr 2016–Mar 2017, Wandsworth, London, England and Wales

Source: MoJ, Proven Reoffending Statistics, 31/01/2019 (Limitation: In October 2015, there was a change in data source used by the MoJ that could affect comparisons).

Substance misuse and dependence contribute to offending and reoffending as well as exacerbating mental health problems and personality disorders.

For those individuals drug tested by police upon arrest, 57% (n=223) tested positive. This rose to 61% for those individuals tested because their offence type was more likely to be linked to drug or substance abuse.

Ambulance Services continue to respond to large numbers of events in Wandsworth where drugs (n= 578) and alcohol (n=2,208) are a factor in injuries, violence or intoxication.

Locally, from April 2017 to March 2018, 16% (n=20) following release from prison adults receiving substance misuse treatment were engaged in community-based structured treatment, lower than London (21.9%) and England (32.1).

Integrated Offender Management (IOM)

IOM is an evidence-based approach which provides a framework for partner organisations to manage and support violent offenders who are at highest risk of reoffending. The members of the IOM partnership are statutory agencies involved in offender management including the police, National Probation Service, Community Rehabilitation Company together with some departments of the Borough council, Community Safety Services, Housing Department, Social Services and a wider network of the Third Sector organisations including Battersea Art Centre and the Ace of Clubs. IOM aims to reduce reoffending and increase social inclusion by working with offenders to challenge their behaviour and address the underlying issues that may lead to reoffending. This is achieved by assessing individual need and supporting access and engagement with services across the seven pathways to prevent reoffending, as recommended by Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, (MOPAC):

Attitudes, thinking and behaviour
Accommodation
Children and families
Drugs and alcohol
Education, training and employment
Finance, benefit and debt
Physical and mental health.

Additional issues that affect women who are part of the IOM scheme are domestic violence and sexual abuse.

The IOM programme continues to manage some of the most persistent and problematic local offenders in the Borough through a joint agency approach aimed at reducing offending and its impact.

During the financial year 2018/19 Wandsworth IOM cohort was comprised of 90 offenders. Performance is monitored by comparing the average number of arrests, convictions and prison days among the cohort before and after IOM intervention. The table below includes data which indicates nearly 60% reductions in arrests and convictions, alongside a 16% fall in days spent in prison. These are closely aligned to outcomes for each of the previous 3 financial years.

Key Wandsworth IOM Performance Outcomes, April-December 2018

Source: MoJ, Proven Reoffending Statistics, 31/01/2019

The high-risk prolific offenders often have complex needs such as dual diagnosis, combination of drugs misuse and mental health problems, or personality disorders. It is still not clear what is the provision of coordinated services for this client group. There is also lack of behavioural change programmes for violent perpetrators which will reduce the impact of reoffending prevention. This requires increased joint working between all the IOM partners.

Serious Violence

In May 2021 the Wandsworth Community Safety Service commissioned the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) to undertake a Needs Assessment on Serious Violence. The report was to include qualitative and quantitative analysis of serious violence in the borough with input from as many stakeholders as possible, and an initial assessment of the VRU funded projects in the borough for serious violence. The consultant was also to be commissioned to work in Richmond and to conduct a deeper dive into identified areas of concern or best practice in Wandsworth so we can understand what factors are influencing the violence positively and negatively. In addition, the Council published the first report completed by the VRU funded Young Researchers Group in Wandsworth. Over 461 young people responded to the research led by their peers. This report covered the topic of Knife Crime and was shared with key partners and Boards in the borough. The next topic, for 2021/22, was to be Violence Against Women and Girls in public.

The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) refers to serious violence as a public health issue that causes ill-health through fear, injury and loss, affecting individuals and whole communities. In order to tackle serious violence and the devastating impact it has on families, victims and communities in the Borough, Wandsworth Council Community Safety has successfully received Violence Reduction Unit funding to support multiple key projects to address the root causes of serious violence and to implement prevention activities.

Serious violence is defined by the South West Basic Command Unit (BCU) and the Community Safety Partnerships of each Borough as the crime types of violence with injury and knife crime, with some overlap between the two:

Violence with injury is comprised of serious wounding (GBH) and assault with injury (ABH)
Knife crime is comprised of knife violence and knife robbery.

The crossover between the two will feature within serious wounding or assault with injury.

Serious Violence Performance and Trend Data

This overview provides a brief analysis of Police Crime Data and London Ambulance Service Callout Data, both correct to December 2019.

Reported violence with injury fell by 4% during 2019. Whilst there has been a 2% rise over 5 years, Wandsworth maintains the lowest rate of violence with injury in Inner London (as shown in the tables and figures below). Although Wandsworth has the lowest rate of knife crime in Inner London, the total has increased by 63% since 2015 (+154). There have been 21 homicides over the past 3 years compared to 5 in the previous 2 years. Data trends also show that July has a regular spike of offences.

Trends in violence with Injury, and percentage change over time in Wandsworth, London and Inner London, 2015–2020

Violence with injury by month 2017–2019, Wandsworth

Violence with injury 5-year comparison, Wandsworth total vs. London (32 Boroughs) and Inner London (12 Boroughs) average, 2015–2019

Trends in homicide, and percentage change over time in Wandsworth 2015–2020, London and Inner London

Source: Metropolitan Police Service, Crime Data Dashboard, February 2020 Note: Rank I. London shows Wandsworth rank compared to the 11 other Inner London Boroughs. 1 = lowest rank

The wards with the highest and lowest levels of violence with injury have been broadly consistent over the past 3 years, as shown in the table below.

Wandsworth wards with the highest and lowest total violence with Injury over 3-year period 2017–2019 and percentage change 2019 vs. 2017

Source: Metropolitan Police Service, Crime Data Dashboard, February 2020

Over 3 years, knife crime classified as robbery has been most common in Latchmere, Northcote and Queenstown wards. Knife crime classified as violent was most common in Tooting, Latchmere and Queenstown. Over 3 years, ambulance callouts for assault were most common in Latchmere, Fairfield and Graveney.

Overview of serious violence crime reports (Police data extract).

Approximately 30% of violence with injury crime reports are domestic in nature. 57% of knife crime was classified as robbery and 42% as violence. This has gradually shifted over the past 5 years (2015 saw 38% robbery, 60% violence). Data shows that 94% of knife robbery involves the use of a knife as a threat or intimidation. 60% of knife violence involves the use of a knife in an attempt to injure. The breakdown of knife crime incidents is shown in the table below.

Yearly knife crime incidents, sub-divided into major crime type, Wandsworth, 2017–2019, 5-year total 2015–2019 and percentage change over 12 months and 5 years

Source: Metropolitan Police Service, CRIS (Crime Recording Information System) data extract, March 2020

One or more suspects are known to one or more of the victims in approximately 55% of violence with injury crime reports. However, this proportion may be higher as approximately 20% of crimes have no recorded suspect.

Serious wounding offences are most common between 20:00 and 01:59, with Friday and Saturday experiencing higher levels of crime reports (the figures below).

Yearly proportion of serious wounding incidents by 6-hour time period, Wandsworth, 2017–2019

Yearly proportion of serious wounding incidents by day of the week, Wandsworth, 2017–2019

Source: Metropolitan Police Service, CRIS (Crime Recording Information System) data extract, March 2020

Assault with Injury offences are most common between 14:00 and 19:59. Friday and Saturday are among the most frequent days. (the figures below).

Yearly proportion of assault with injury incidents by 6-hour time period, Wandsworth, 2017–2019

Yearly proportion of assault with Injury incidents by day of the week, Wandsworth, 2017–2019

Source: Metropolitan Police Service, CRIS (Crime Recording Information System) data extract, March 2020

Ambulance callouts for assault are most common between 20:00 and 01:59, on a Friday or Saturday. During 2019, there was a notable shift in time trends for knife crime. 50% of knife robbery has taken place between 14:00 and 19:59 and 40% of knife violence has taken place between 20:00 and 01:59 (the figures below).

Yearly proportion of knife robbery incidents by 6-hour time period, Wandsworth, 2017–2019

Yearly proportion of knife violence incidents by 6-hour time period, Wandsworth, 2017–2019

Source: Metropolitan Police Service, CRIS (Crime Recording Information System) data extract, March 2020

Analysis of suspect demographics should be interpreted with caution due to:

missing data (crimes with no suspect recorded)
partial data (crimes with limited suspect data e.g., estimated age but no ethnicity).

The analysis below has been conducted on a per crime report basis i.e., percentage number of crimes with a victim or suspect in a demographic group (age, ethnicity or gender). Therefore, percentages can tally to more than 100 due to the potential for multiple victims and suspects.

Over 5 years, approximately 51% of violence with injury crime reports had 1 or more victims aged 25–44. 18% of reports had 1 or more victims aged 18–24 compared to 8% of population (the table below).

Age of recorded victim(s) for serious wounding and assault with Injury Incidents, Wandsworth, 2015–2019

Source: Metropolitan Police Service, CRIS (Crime Recording Information System) data extract, March 2020. Note: Does not include those victims where demographic details were not captured

Approximately 40% of violence with injury crime reports had one or more non-white victims.

Approximately 67% of serious wounding had a male victim (28% female, 5% both), in contrast to assault with injury which was more evenly split (45% male, 51% female, 4% both).

Over 5 years, approximately 54% of violence with injury crime reports had 1 or more suspects aged 25–44. 19% of reports had 1 or more suspects aged 18–24, compared to 8% of population (the table below).

Age of recorded suspects for serious wounding and assault with injury incidents, Wandsworth, 2015–2019

Source: Metropolitan Police Service, CRIS (Crime Recording Information System) data extract, March 2020. Note: Does not include those suspects where demographic details were not captured

Data shows that approximately 48% of violence with injury crime reports had one or more non-white suspects. 80% of serious wounding and 70% of assault with injury offences had 1 or more male suspects.

Over 5 years, victims of knife robbery are most likely to be under the age of 25 (27% of reports with at least one victim aged <18 and 27% of reports with at least one victim aged 18–24). Victims of knife violence are older, 57% aged 25–44 and 24% 18–24. The 18–24 age group is disproportionality represented (only 8% of population).

There is also a disproportionality within ethnicity, particularly knife violence, where 56% of crime reports have a non-white victim. Male victims are most common, particularly within knife robbery (84% vs. 71% knife violence).

Similar trends exist within suspects of knife crime, with a younger cohort of suspects and over-representation of the 18–24 age group and males. However, within ethnicity, while the same disproportionality is seen, it is greater within knife robbery (70% reports with a suspect from an ethnic minority group) than knife violence (53%).

Over the past 3 years, the 15–24 age cohort accounted for 22% of ambulance callouts for assault (compared to 11% of the population).

6. Homelessness and Rough Sleeping

Good quality and stable housing is vital to the health and wellbeing of the Borough’s population. Homelessness remains a significant challenge in Wandsworth and across London as a result of several factors, including difficulty accessing and maintaining private sector accommodation. House prices in the Borough have eased back a little from their mid-2010s peak, but private rents have risen sharply in recent years and housing in Wandsworth remains far less affordable than across England as a whole. The Council is undertaking a range of work to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, with a focus on preventative measures.

Homelessness and rough sleeping present a significant challenge in Wandsworth and across London, with Councils seeing increased demand from households approaching as homeless. In April 2018, the Homelessness Reduction Act significantly changed homelessness legislation by placing new duties on councils and an increased emphasis on prevention. The act brought challenges for Wandsworth Council, but also provided an opportunity to tackle homelessness proactively at the earliest possible stage. In 2018, the Government published a national rough sleeping strategy which aimed to end rough sleeping by 2027 accompanied by £100 million funding, and the current Government has restated a commitment to ending rough sleeping.

Affordability is a major contributing factor to the prevalence of homelessness and rough sleeping in the Borough. Wandsworth’s house and rental costs are well above the national average, and although average house prices have come down slightly since their 2017–2022 peak, the cost of private renting has continued to climb. The Borough remains less affordable than England and most other parts of the country (the figures below).

Average house prices in Wandsworth stood at around £711,000 in 2025 — below the 2022 peak of roughly £739,000, but still well above Inner London (£657,000), London as a whole (£561,000) and more than double the England average (£289,000) (the figure below).

Source: ONS UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry), average price

Unlike house prices, private rents have risen steeply. The average monthly private rent in Wandsworth reached around £2,520 in 2025 (and £2,599 by May 2026), up from about £1,800 a decade earlier. This is consistently above the London average (£2,250 in 2025) and well over the England average (£1,400) (the figure below).

Source: ONS Price Index of Private Rents (average rent)

Taken together, this means homes in Wandsworth cost around 14.7 times median local workplace earnings in 2025. While this has improved from a peak of almost 20 in 2017, it remains well above the ratios for London (10.6) and England (7.6), so housing in the Borough is still among the least affordable in the country (the figure below).

Source: ONS, ratio of median house price to median gross annual workplace-based earnings

The Borough continues to see high demand from households approaching the Council as homeless, alongside sustained pressure on rough sleeping services. The Council and its partners work to assess the needs of individuals and tailor the support and housing offer to meet those needs, with a continued focus on prevention.

6.1 Rate of Homelessness

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2018 changed the way homelessness is recorded, so figures from April 2018 onwards are not comparable with the earlier “acceptances” measure. Under the current framework, households are assessed as being owed a prevention or relief duty. In the latest quarter (October to December 2025), 620 Wandsworth households were assessed as owed a homelessness duty — equivalent to 4.5 per 1,000 households. This is close to the London average (4.8 per 1,000) and above the England average (3.2 per 1,000) (the figure below).

Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, statutory homelessness statistics

Continued demand, combined with a limited supply of social lettings, has driven a sharp rise in the number of households living in temporary accommodation (TA). By the end of 2025 around 4,200 Wandsworth households were in TA — up from roughly 2,400 in 2020 and fewer than 800 in 2014. At 30 households per 1,000, Wandsworth’s use of temporary accommodation is well above the London average (21 per 1,000) and around six times the England average (5 per 1,000) (the figure below).

Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, statutory homelessness statistics

6.2 Causes of Homelessness

As outlined in the figure below, the most common reason Wandsworth households became homeless and were owed a relief duty (October to December 2025) was family or friends no longer being willing or able to accommodate them (34%) — highlighting the number of residents reliant on friends or family for a place to live. Domestic abuse was the second most common reason (21%), followed by the end of a private rented tenancy (16%).

With more than a third of the Borough’s households (36.3%) living in privately rented accommodation — compared with 30% across London — many residents are exposed to the insecurity and high cost of the private rented sector, which remains a significant route into homelessness.

Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, statutory homelessness statistics

Under homelessness legislation, a household must be assessed as being in ‘priority need’ to be owed the main housing duty by a local authority. For Wandsworth cases owed a main duty (October to December 2025), having dependent children or a pregnant household member was the most common way households met this criterion (56%). A further 15% qualified due to a physical disability or ill health, and 10% due to mental health problems — underlining the link between poor health and insecurity of accommodation (the figure below).

Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, statutory homelessness statistics

Note: The next paragraph and chart have not been updated and may not reflect the latest available data. They are retained to provide context and should be interpreted alongside the more recent indicators presented elsewhere in this chapter. They are from the SPEAR assessment for the first three quarters of 2019/20.

Rough sleepers often face a combination of complex needs. In the most recent published local assessment (the first three quarters of 2019/20), of the 158 rough sleepers verified and assessed by SPEAR in the Borough, a significant number struggled with more than one issue (the figure below). Mental health is the most common, with a third (71) of all rough sleepers in Wandsworth living with at least one recognised mental health problem. Concerningly, around one in five rough sleepers in the area are affected by alcohol need (37) or substance misuse (32) and 17% have a dual diagnosis of both mental health and alcohol/ substance abuse. The complex nature of these issues, the consequences this has on day-to-day life and the difficulty in accessing treatment options, means that securing accommodation is often just one step towards ensuring a person who has slept rough is able to successfully maintain their own tenancy in the future.

Rough sleepers with complex needs, 2019/20

Source: SPEAR data - Wandsworth Q1-Q3 2019/20

The Homelessness Reduction Act fundamentally changed homelessness legislation and therefore comparisons before and after April 2018 should be taken with caution.

6.3 Current Services on Offer

The Council has statutory duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act to undertake work to prevent or relieve homelessness. This includes working with applicants to develop a personalised housing plan, helping to maintain current accommodation where appropriate and identifying other housing options available. Further to this, the Council has a statutory duty to provide accommodation to those deemed to be eligible (as per immigration status), homeless and in priority need, under the Housing Act 1996.

The Council successfully bid for Government funding to provide a rough sleeper outreach service and implement a pathway model to assist rough sleepers in the Borough into accommodation. The Council commissions services through the homelessness charity SPEAR and provides an in-house local lettings service to help rough sleepers access and maintain private accommodation. The Council continues to bid for government funding streams to maintain and enhance this model.

Since April 2019, the borough’s rough sleeping provision has increased exponentially as the Council maximised resources made available through Government initiatives such as RSI (Rough Sleeping Initiative) and RRP (Rapid Rehousing Pathway).

During the COVID-19 pandemic the Council kept levels of rough sleeping low by offering emergency accommodation to everyone verified as sleeping rough, regardless of clinical vulnerability or immigration status, building on the Government’s “Everyone In” initiative. Many entrenched rough sleepers who had not previously engaged with services took up these offers.

The Council’s Rough Sleeper Team, introduced in January 2021, has proved invaluable, enabling rapid in-house housing and support-needs assessments and underpinning the Borough’s rough sleeping pathway.

The Council has made significant investment in prevention services to accompany the Homelessness Reduction Act. This approach has proven successful with exponential growth in homelessness preventions in the borough. This has resulted in a 44% increase in homelessness preventions from 2019/20 to 2020/21 (from 187 preventions to 269). Whilst the primary aim of this work is to reduce the upheaval of households facing homelessness, it also provides an opportunity to reduce the use of temporary accommodation and use social housing more effectively in the longer term.

For 2019/20, the Council successfully bid for around £500k government funding to help tackle rough sleeping in the Borough. This has resulted in the provision of an increased outreach service to identify rough sleepers and a pathway model to help entrenched rough sleepers into accommodation. There were 34 rough sleepers accommodated over the first two quarters of 2019/20. Outreach services have also engaged with 121 rough sleepers in the Borough over this period, compared to 97 for the whole of 2018/19.

Acronyms

Ordinance Survey. OS Maps Britain’s High Streets. 2019. URL: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/demos/high-streets/high-streets/index.html#11.93/51.45365/-0.19024 ↩︎
MHCLG, English Indices of Deprivation 2025, File 10: local authority district summaries.↩︎
Office for National Statistics via Nomis ↩︎
Achakulwisut P, Brauer M, Hystad P, Anenberg SC. Global, national, and urban burdens of paediatric asthma incidence attributable to ambient NO2 pollution: estimates from global datasets. Lancet Planet Health 2019 Apr 10. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(19)30046-4.↩︎
Mayor of London. Cleaner Vehicles. 2019. Data used: 2019. URL: https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/environment-and-climate-change/pollution-and-air-quality ↩︎
Greater London Authority, London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (LAEI) 2022 (baseline year 2022, revised 2025/26). URL: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/london-atmospheric-emissions-inventory-laei-2022-2lg5g. Both the earlier and latest year are taken from the same inventory (LAEI 2022), which models earlier years (2016, 2019) on a consistent methodology, so the change shown is a like-for-like comparison rather than a splice of successive inventories.↩︎
URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-local-authority-and-regional-greenhouse-gas-emissions-statistics ↩︎
MHCLG. Dwelling stock estimates, England (Live Table 125). 2025. URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants ↩︎
ONS. Housing prices in your area, Wandsworth. 2026. URL: https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/housingpriceslocal/E09000032/↩︎
ONS. Census 2021, Accommodation type (TS044). URL: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/datasets/c2021ts044 ↩︎
ONS. Census 2021, Tenure (TS054). URL: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/datasets/c2021ts054 ↩︎
ONS. Private rent and house prices, UK. 2026. URL: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/privaterentandhousepricesuk/latest ↩︎
ONS. Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, resident analysis, median gross annual pay for full-time workers. 2025.↩︎
London Datastore. Land use by Borough and Ward. 2005. URL: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/land-use-ward ↩︎
Enable Leisure and Culture. What is biodiversity? URL: https://enablelc.org/parks/biodiversity/↩︎
Consumer Data Research Centre / Geographic Data Science Lab, Access to Healthy Assets & Hazards (AHAH). The figures quoted here are from version 2 of the index (2017). AHAH is now at version 5.1 (May 2026), built on 2021 LSOA boundaries, and the ranks below need recomputing against it.↩︎
GLA Datastore hosts an interactive visualization tool. URL: https://data.london.gov.uk/census/lwzc/visualisation-tool/↩︎
Office for National Statistics, UK Business Counts, via Nomis ↩︎
Wandsworth Council: Development Management Policies. URL: https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/media/1424/development_management_policies.pdf ↩︎
URL: https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/media/1629/town_centre_uses_spd_adopted_version_2015.pdf ↩︎
ONS. Travel to work, England and Wales: Census 2021. URL: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/traveltoworkenglandandwales/census2021 ↩︎
Transport for London: WebCat. URL: https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/urban-planning-and-construction/planning-with-webcat/webcat ↩︎
London Datastore. Public Transport Accessibility Levels, 2008–2014. Data used: 2014. URL: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/public-transport-accessibility-levels ↩︎
Department for Transport, Road traffic statistics, local authority traffic↩︎
London Datastore. Licensed Vehicles - Numbers, Borough. 1997–2018. Data used: 2018. URL: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/licensed-vehicles-numbers-borough ↩︎
It was noted that no differences were found in terms of recreational physical activity levels of respondents by travel mode category.↩︎
Sahlqvist, S, Song, Y, Ogilvie, D. Is active travel associated with greater physical activity? The contribution of commuting and non-commuting active travel to total physical activity in adults. Preventative Medicine. [Online] September 2012;55(3): 206-211. URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743512003088?via%3Dihub. 2020.↩︎
The health benefits of cycling outweigh the risk caused by pollution residents get exposed to when cycling except when pollution reaches a certain level.↩︎
Ogilvie D, Mitchell R, Mutrie N, Petticrew M, Platt S. Shoe leather epidemiology: active travel and transport infrastructure in the urban landscape. International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity 7: 43. 2010.↩︎
URL: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/how-we-work/planning-for-the-future/healthy-streets ↩︎
URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20260306083622/https://content.tfl.gov.uk/mts-walking-action-plan.pdf ↩︎
URL: http://content.tfl.gov.uk/cycling-action-plan.pdf ↩︎
Paths for everyone: Sustrans’ review of the national Cycle Network 2018. URL: https://www.sustrans.org.uk/media/2804/paths_for_everyone_ncn_review_report_2018.pdf ↩︎
Renton, A., Phillips, G., Daykin, N., Yu, G., Taylor, K. et al. (2012). Think of your Art-eries: Arts participation, behavioural cardiovascular risk factors and mental well-being in deprived communities in London. Public Health, (126), pp. S57–64.↩︎
URL: http://i5health.com/SPReports/COP_Report_SP_EPP_WandsworthCCG_ver2.0.pdf)↩︎
URL: https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/places-of-worship/↩︎
OHID Fingertips, Public Health Profiles. Indicator: Violent crime - violence offences per 1,000 population↩︎

Up to Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)

Updated: 19/10/2026

JSNA Place

On this page

1. Introduction

2. Healthy Environments

2.1 Air Quality

Fine particulate matter

2.2 Climate Change

Data on climate change and Wandsworth

Tackling climate change in Wandsworth

2.3 Built Environment

Healthy streets

Housing

Addressing housing needs

Affordable housing through council-led development

Regeneration Projects

Covid-19 and Housing

2.4 Noise Pollution

2.5 Natural Environments

3. Healthy Neighbourhoods

3.1 Access to Healthy Assets

The Access to Healthy Assets and Hazards Index

Health Care

London Output Area Classification

Workplace Zones

Local Business Employers

Social Isolation

Social Isolation in Adult Social Care Users Aged 18 and Over

Social Isolation in Adult Social Care Users Aged 65 and Over

Out of Home Meals and Food Environment

3.2 Transport and Modes of Travel

Modes of Travel to Work

Vehicle Ownership and Traffic

Active Travel

TfL’s Walking Action Plan

TfL’s Cycling Action Plan

Road Casualties

4. Arts, Culture and Leisure

4.1 Wandsworth Arts and Culture Health and Wellbeing Case Studies

Case Study: Wandsworth Music Community Choir

Case Study: Reimagining Theatre for Young Audiences

Case Study: Supporting People with Neurodivergent Needs

Case Study: Happy Streets

Case Study: Breaking Down Barriers into Music for Young People from Diverse Backgrounds

5. Healthy Communities

5.1 Utilisation of Outdoor Space for Exercise/Health Reasons

Green Social Prescribing

5.2 Crime and Community Safety

Violence

Knife Crime

Burglary

Personal Robbery

Anti-social Behaviour

Reoffending

Violence Against Women and Girls

Keeping Children and Young People Safe

Hate Crime

Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB)

Anti-social Behaviour Partnership Working

Community Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference

Crimes Against the Elderly

ECINS & Online Watch Link, OWL

Offenders

Adult Offending & Re-offending

Integrated Offender Management (IOM)

Serious Violence

Serious Violence Performance and Trend Data

6. Homelessness and Rough Sleeping

6.1 Rate of Homelessness

6.2 Causes of Homelessness

6.3 Current Services on Offer

Acronyms

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