The quiet residential street of Hazelbourne Road, in Clapham, sees some inhabitants paying nearly £1,000 more a year to live there than others.
It’s a pretty eye-watering difference, given they’re all living in neatly-kept uniform brick terraced houses, which seemingly offer the exact same lifestyle.
This street is where two London council boundaries meet, meaning the west side of the street is beholden to Wandsworth council, while the east side of the street is under Lambeth’s jurisdiction.
As a result, the two sides of the street pay vastly different council tax rates, which makes life much pricier for one half of the residents.
Lambeth council charges £1,954 a year for a Band D property in council tax, nearly double what Wandsworth charges for the same band, which is £998 a year.
Basically if you live on the eastern side of this street you could pay roughly £956 more per year than your neighbours, who are mere metres away.
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This equates to £162 per month for Lambeth residents, while Wandsworth residents pay just £83. That difference could easily cover a weekly food shop for a working couple, and then some.
It’s important to note though, that Lambeth certainly doesn’t have the expensive council tax, with that title going to Kingston which charges £2,489 per year for Band D buildings.
What you get for your money with each council
As a top line, Lambeth council spends 54% more than its counterpart in a financial year. It spent £443.5 million, while Wandsworth spent £288 million.
Despite spending more, it also has a smaller population according to Statista, with 316,920 people compared to Wandsworth’s 337,655 locals.
According to the Telegraph’s analysis, Lambeth council spends much more on housing, adult social care and children’s services. For example, its budget for adult social care was £112 million compared to Wandsworth’s £105 million.
That’s £7 million more, along with a £10 million higher spend on both housing and children’s services.
Which areas sit within each council
Lambeth
In the north of Lambeth: Waterloo, South Bank, Vauxhall, Kennington, Oval.
In central Lambeth: Brixton, Stockwell, Loughborough Junction, parts of Clapham.
In the south of Lambeth: Streatham, Streatham Hill, Tulse Hill, West Norwood, Gipsy Hill, West Dulwich.
Wandsworth
Battersea, including parts of Clapham and Nine Elms, Putney, including Roehampton, and also Tooting Bec, Tooting Broadway, Balham, Earlsfield, Wandsworth Town.
The reason Lambeth likely spends so much more than Wandsworth is because it’s the 104th (out of 296 in England) on the ONS list of most deprived councils, while Wandsworth sits 197th on the list, fairing slightly better.
When you look at the bigger picture though, 65% of local authorities contain at least one highly deprived neighbourhood, according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation.
That being said only 1% of Lambeth neighbourhoods are considered ‘highly deprived’, as noted by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, while Wandsworth has no neighbourhoods that fall into this category.
Bin collections
The street sees two different bin collections, with Lambeth only collecting black bins once a fortnight, while Wandsworth collects them every week, however a more frequent service doesn’t necessarily mean a better one.
The Telegraph interviewed residents from both sides of the road with one, Anna Clack, who lives on the Lambeth side of the street, telling the news outlet: ‘The bins on the Wandsworth side of the road are disgusting. The bins on our side of the road are done properly.’
Wandsworth saw 175 missed bin collections from 2024 to 2025, but got this down to 112 by May, while Lambeth misses less than 40 collections per 100,000 per month.
Metro has contacted Wandsworth council for comment.
What did each borough accomplish last year?
If you’re paying Lambeth council tax, your money went towards some exciting initiatives in 2025.
It’s trialling a new Healthy Neighbourhood in the Kennington Triangle area to reduce road danger, improve air quality, and make the area more pleasant for residents and workers.
The Community Parklet Scheme also opened for applications to transform kerbside parking areas into social spaces and green areas.
A new Brixton Long-Acting Reversible Contraception Services Hub began to offer women more comprehensive contraception choices including coil fittings and implants. The council even provided free bikes for a Muslim women’s cycling group called Cycle Sisters.
If you’re paying Wandsworth council tax, you contributed to the maintenance of London’s Borough of Culture 2025, which has the lowest council tax in the country.
In partnership with the council, Higgins Homes, is creating a new housing development with a GP-led health centre and pharmacy, and 223 homes – 187 of which are said to be affordable for locals, with 113 of these being owned by the council itself.
It also launched three new CCTV vans in September to keep the public safe, along with 300 new council homes being built, and a commitment to build 203 council homes at Battersea Power Station.
In addition, five playgrounds were either opened or refurbished, as well, for those with children.
So, which side of the street are you on?
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