Published: Tuesday 28 June 2022
The first round of census results has been released by the Office for National Statistics showing changes in population between 2011 and 2021.
According to the results, the population in Kensington and Chelsea on 21 March 2021 was 143,300. This is a 9.6 per cent decrease since the 2011 figure of 158,649 – the largest decrease in London and in England and Wales.
Reacting to the results, Cllr Elizabeth Campbell, Leader of Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, said:
“This is not just a statistical exercise. London’s local authorities receive billions of pounds of funding every year from central government, with the amount we get based in large part on our population.
“The census took place in the middle of the Coronavirus lockdown, at a time when our population had dipped temporarily, but substantially. We believe this data represents a serious and significant population undercount here in Kensington and Chelsea.
“Our population is bouncing back again, and that is crucial for the economic benefit of the UK. We are keen to work with ONS and with central government to ensure that the figures used to calculate local authority funding accurately reflect central London’s population. We must ensure that any ‘Lost Londoners’ do not lead to lost funding for the capital, and further pressure on already stretched local authority budgets.”
More details are available via the ONS website