Public landmarks are being reviewed in Lewisham to ensure they do not promote or glorify racism, the Mayor has said.

Damien Egan's announcement comes after Sadiq Khan committed to a review of monuments across the capital, in the wake of further Black Lives Matter protests. 

A forum will be established in Lewisham to enable local people and organisations to participate in the debate, which will feed directly into the Mayor of London’s new Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm.

Damien Egan said: “In line with commitments made by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Lewisham Council is reviewing all landmarks in our public realm.

"We will be establishing a local forum, reflecting our borough’s diversity, to better understand our local landmarks including all statues, plaques, artworks, memorials and street names.

"I am proud of Lewisham’s history as a borough of sanctuary for refugees and those seeking asylum from around the world and I do not want anything in our public realm that promotes or glorifies racism and intolerance.

"I also want to ensure future memorials and public art celebrates our borough’s diversity.

"Our forum will directly feed into the Mayor of London’s new Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm.

"The Council will also work local organisations based in Lewisham, and will explore ways that murals and public art across our borough can be used to showcase and promote the diversity and history of Lewisham today.

"Lewisham is a diverse and open borough with a history of standing up to racism. However, too much of our public realm reflects Britain’s colonial past.

"The current debates highlights that this country’s history is understood by too few people, and that more education around Britain’s colonial history and the devastating impact and suffering that it has had on communities around the world is much needed.”

Anti-racism activists have already raised questions about two sites in the borough. 

Topple the Racists, a Black Lives Matter supporting campaign, called for statues of three historic figures on the facade of Deptford Town Hall to be torn down due to their links to slavery.

The naval figures have decorated the former municipal building, now owned by Goldsmiths University, since its opening in 1905.

Goldsmiths stated it is working with students and residents to determine their future.

The Horniman Museum in Forest Hill was also included on its list of 60 landmarks that should be reviewed, due to tea founder Frederick John Horniman's "shameful" colonial history.

The museum clarified that Horniman did not own slaves or plantations, although the wealth upon which the collection was built derived from the exploitation of workers in the British Empire.