A council has denied that a south London suburb is in danger of being renamed despite canvassing locals on its historical links to the slave trade.
Tulse Hill, which has a population of more than 15,500, was named after a family who held manors there during the early 17th century and had links to slavery.
A question about the district is included in a “community listening” survey, instigated by Lambeth council, which asked for views on the names of various localities. Most of the questionnaire deals with street names but one section is devoted to Tulse Hill.
It explains that Sir Henry Tulse, who was lord mayor of London, was a 17th-century descendant of the earlier Tulse family after whom the area was named. Tulse drew much of his wealth from the slave trade.
Residents are asked whether the area should be renamed, have information displayed to explain its history or whether an education programme should be launched. A final option is to do nothing.
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Lambeth is the latest London council to launch a review of place names, after the capital’s mayor Sadiq Khan offered £25,000 grants to Londoners to “decolonise” their street names.
The council highlights a number of streets which are named after Henry Richard Vassall-Fox, the third Baron Holland of Foxley and his wife Elizabeth Webster, both of whom owned slaves.
These streets, all of which could be renamed, include Vassal Road, Holland Grove, Foxley Road and Foxley Square and Lord Holland Lane. Also on the list is Lilford Road, which is “associated through marriage to the Vassall family”.
The council notes that some roads, including Cromwell Road and Nelson’s Row, may also be linked to the slave trade or colonialism, but further research is needed.
Oliver Dowden, the Conservative Party chairman, said: “While people worry about the cost of living, Labour councils are wasting their cash on vanity projects like this. No wonder Conservative councils deliver more and cost less.”
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A Lambeth council spokesman denied there were plans to rename Tulse Hill and said asking residents about the name incurred no extra costs.
They said: “In the wake of the Black Lives Matter campaign in 2020 we worked with our communities to see if there are local locations with possible links to the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism.
“What followed is an educational piece of local history research work of the kind that our valued local library archives routinely undertake. There are no plans to rename Tulse Hill, or any other site in the borough, but as a community we have learnt more about our past by holding these conversations.
“This includes highlighting that Tulse Hill is named after the Tulse family, which possibly included Sir Henry Tulse, whose wealth came from profits from the slave trade.
“Lambeth is a richly diverse borough, and the council has been a pioneer since the 1980s for naming new places and new buildings to reflect local people. This latest piece of work required no extra spending, and has taken government legislation on the issue fully into account.”
