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Making Bexley even better

As Cllr Baroness O’Neill of Bexley OBE steps away from the role as Leader of the Council, we reflect on what the London Borough of Bexley has achieved during her 17 years of stewardship.

Teresa O’Neill was first elected to the London Borough of Bexley to represent Brampton Ward on 8 May 1998. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire (Officer) in 2015 and made a life peer in November 2022.

As well as stepping down as Bexley – and London’s - longest serving Council Leader she will not seek re-election as a Cllr in May 2026 but will focus on her work in the House of Lords where she will continue to champion the interests of Bexley residents and serve as a figurehead for the borough.

I remain deeply committed to the borough and our residents.  I intend to continue fighting Bexley’s corner in Parliament, which offers a platform for promoting the borough’s interests nationally.”

Healthcare

Cllr Baroness O’Neill led the campaign, alongside the late James Brokenshire MP, to save services at Queen Marys Hospital, Sidcup in 2013.

She helped bring the Guy’s Dialysis Unit, Acorns Children and Young People’s Unit and Guy’s Cancer Centre to Queen Mary’s and established the adult health and social care provider Bexley Care with Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust.

Thanks to her continued support, a new Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) providing top-notch diagnostic scanning services opened for Bexley residents in 2025.

Queen Mary's Sidcup NHS

Bexley Box

Cllr Baroness O’Neill initiated and ran the ‘Bexley Box’ project in 2024 that saw some of the borough’s most vulnerable elderly housebound residents receive a special box filled with goods designed to help keep them warm and well over the winter months.

Working with local businesses, residents and partners who made donations, boxes were filled by Councillors, staff and volunteers and delivered out to those residents who needed them most.

Bexley box

Covid response

The Baroness was part of the small team that led London’s Covid response during the pandemic and in recognition of her contribution she was given the Freedom of the City of London.

She helped to set up the local community champion programme which brought together people from across the borough to work with the Council and reach out to less well networked communities and individuals.

With her support Bexley Civic Offices became a testing centre and then a mass vaccination centre.

covid response

Olympic 2012

Cllr Baroness O’Neill played a key part in the Olympic Torch arriving in Bexley in 2012.  Olympic Legacy projects in the borough include the Erith Yacht Club refurbishment and a new home for Europa Gymnastics Centre.

The torch travelled right through the borough to Danson Park where the Council hosted a free event for 20,000 people.

holding the Olympic torch

Our biggest recycling project

The Civic Offices building was officially opened by the former Mayor of London,  Boris Johnson in October 2014. It brought together Council staff from four separate locations across Bexley into one building. Saving residents millions in Council Tax and regenerating homes across the Borough.

Cllr Baroness O’Neill of Bexley OBE said:

I’m proud of the deal we made in selling the old Council site and buying 2 Watling Street site. Bringing all our Council’s services under one roof really strengthened what we could offer to residents and made us much more cost effective.” 

Bexley recycling

Standing Up for Bexley

During her time as Leader of the Council she was instrumental in forming an alliance with other London Councils and leading the campaign against ULEZ.

She has continuously lobbied for better transport links for the Borough – the extension of the DLR to Belvedere and the continuation of the Elizabeth Line beyond Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet.

She successfully lobbied TfL to extend the new Superloop so it included stops at Abbey Wood station and Thamesmead. She was instrumental in bringing the banking hub to Welling following concerns from residents about the loss of high street bank branches.

She was a vocal opponent to the introduction of charges to use the new Silvertown Tunnel and the Blackwall Tunnel. More recently she has voiced her strong opposition to the reduction in hours of the front counter at Bexleyheath Police Station, following her fight to keep the Station open.

group of people holding sign coalition against ULEZ expansion

Education

During her stewardship Cllr Baroness O’Neill has played a key role in the opening of the new Lime Wood Primary School (2023) along with three new Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools in Bexley – Cleeve Meadow, Cornerstone School and Shenstone School, all providing additional support to local children and young people with SEND. She was also key in securing the funding to build both Haberdashers’ Crayford Academy and Harris Academy Falconwood. 

lime wood primary school

Libraries

Against the national trend during her stewardship Bexley has seen the opening of two new libraries - the Sidcup Storyteller Library and Cinema at the end of 2022 followed by the opening of The Nest in Thamesmead in 2023.

Library in Bexley

Regeneration

She worked tirelessly alongside the late Cllr Linda Bailey, former Cabinet Member for Regeneration, to bring about The Quarry in Erith, an ecologically conscious community of 600 homes.

She also led the charge to redevelop the Larner Road Estate in Erith which was demolished to make way for Erith Park.

A major force in bringing about a Thamesmead partnership with Peabody which has led to the Southmere development completed in 2022 creating 534 new homes.

She has been instrumental in bringing in much-needed growth to the borough, such as Waitrose in Sidcup and Morrisons and Tesco in Welling as well as Morley’s department store in Bexleyheath.

Erith park
making Bexley even better