How much money could be saved by merging Lewisham and Southwark councils? A single mayor and CEO is just the start of the savings and the new council would be able to take the best staff and practice from the two boroughs.

Lawrence House could be converted into a new primary school.

Given that the CEO of Lewisham controls a budget of £900m I don't think it is surprising he is paid around £200k. To give a comparison in the private sector, Trinity Mirror PLC has revenues of £763m and the CEO is paid a salary of £1.4m and bonus in shares worth £400k. This is not an exceptional salary for an organisation of this size.

A council's budget is different from a private company's revenue, but it gives a sense of the scale of operations.